How far would you go for a friend?
by Mystic Tink
Summary: Peter was her best friend but sometimes the things he came up with... well they were a little out of the ordinary. Like what he told her just recently; he told her that he was High King of a world in the back of a wardrobe called Narnia.....?
1. Chapter 1

Oh my! She thought. Peter was her best friend but sometimes the things he came up with... well they were a little out of the ordinary. Like what he told her just recently. Prepare yourselves now, this may come as a bit of a shock; he told her that he was High King (not just a normal king,_ High_ King!) of a world in the back of a wardrobe called Narnia! That he lived there for decades where he, along with his two sisters and his brother, defeated a great enemy called the White Witch with the help of a talking Lion and other talking animals! And that they then took her place as rulers of Narnia, where they lived and ruled for many happy years!!

"What kind of a fool does he think I am?" She thought as she looked at the doodles she had been tattooing onto her arm. "His imagination really has gotten the better of him this time...maybe I should tell his mother? Or perhaps I should tell the headmaster? Should I tell anyone for that matter? If I do will he be taken away to the nut house? Oh what a horrid mess..."

"Ms. Potts stop fouling your arm and pay attention!" barked the voice of her history teacher Ms. Allen. Sally Potts jumped awake and saw the whole class staring at her...again. They were all turned around in their wooden desks peering peevishly at her.

"Well, are you ready to sit and pay attention and _not_ disrupt my class again?" Ms. Allen demanded through her beaky nose.

"Yes Ms. Allen." Sally sighed and started to take down the notes on the board. But she had no intention of listening to the old bag and once the notes were all down in her copy book she was lost once more in her quandary about Peter.

That afternoon as Sally left the school grounds she saw someone sitting on the school wall, waiting. For her maybe? The early September sunlight was shining weakly down on his golden hair, his clothes hung loosely to his slim frame and his legs were swinging and kicking the wall. He looked up as she came nearer and she froze. What to do? It was Peter, with that blond hair falling into his blue eyes and that serious, yet caring turn to his mouth, who else could it be?

The events of their last meeting flitted quickly through her mind. He had had something of great importance to tell her. She had been quite worried and then he had told her about 'Narnia'. She had been so shocked that it had been quite impossible for her to say anything for nearly ten minutes! Sally had sat there in the Pevensie's front room with her mouth opening and closing like a gold-fish! When she had gotten over the shock and regained her voice he had gotten angry and shouted at him, then stormed out of his house and had been avoiding him since then because of the indecision and worry.

"Well," she thought, "I suppose I do owe him more than to just ignore him. I should at least talk to him about seeing a doctor."

Peter Pevensie was more than just a friend to Sally Potts. He was her rock, like Peter in the Bible, Peter, her own personal rock. They had met one night during a raid on London and before the Pevensies had built their shelter. Peter had been holding his sister Lucy, rocking her backwards and forwards, keeping her calm as their mother looked after Susan and Edmund. Sally remembered seeing him and wishing she had someone to do that for her; her mother was working for the war effort and her dad was fighting, she had no siblings. That night she had first talked to Peter, he had seen she was all alone and brought her over to his family to help her through it. Their friendship had blossomed from there on and now Sally was sure she had fallen for him. Why else would her stomach flip when she saw him when wasn't expecting to? Yes she owed him much more than what she was doing to him now, she owed him enough to try and get him to see sense and talk to someone.

"Peter?" she called to him.

"Sally!" he said, his face full of relief as he hopped off the wall.

"Hullo Peter."

"Where've you been these last few days, we haven't seen you in ages, Lu's beginning to miss you!"

A smile touched her lips as an image of Peter's smallest sister Lucy came to mind; with her brown hair, freckles, blue eyes and cheeky smile she was one of Sally's favourite people in the world! Lucy was so sweet and innocent and yet strangely wise for someone her age, almost as if she'd done the whole growing up thing before. Sally moved and started to walk beside Peter.

"Peter, I don't really know what to say, I-"

"No. Don't say anything, I sure wish I hadn't," he interrupted, mumbling the last bit softly and then continued, "I need to say something." He looked into her eyes and even if he hadn't interrupted, she would have stopped speaking because of those blue eyes and the strange expression in them. His face was utterly serious and she was unable to do anything but stare at him waiting for him to carry on.

"Look I see I made a mistake telling you about Narnia, obviously you weren't ready to know. But I know that now and I don't want my mistake to ruin everything. So can we please, just forget I said anything? Can we go back to the way it was before?" he asked quietly.

Sally thought back to the easy, open friendship they had had before this and longed for it back more than anything in the world.

"Peter I don't know, I would love that but," she hesitated, then took a deep breath and carried on, "Peter you've made up this whole world and this big adventure in your head that you seem to be convinced is real! I think you're ill, Peter. Have you talked to anyone else about this? Maybe it would be a good idea for you to go back to the country, you know, to get your head straight again."

"No! Sal, you don't get it! It wasn't my imagination! Believe me I had a hard time believing Lucy when she first came back from Narnia too!"

"Pete," She shook her head, getting really worried now and becoming emotional, "Pete," she looked deep into his eyes, beseeching him, "Pete, listen to me! This never happened! You were hardly gone for a year and you say you were in this Narnia for decades ruling it! It just couldn't happen! You simply can't have a world in the back of a wardrobe, it is simply impossible! You were gone for one year, Peter, not thirty! All this is impossible! Please help me, go see someone! I'll go with you if you'd like!" her eyes were brimming with tears now and she realised she was holding his hands tightly in hers in an effort to convey how serious she was about this.

"No Sal, I know it's real, you're just not ready to believe it yet!" He insisted softly, clutching her hands tighter. "Narnia is a magical place, it can be found anywhere! Time flows differently there too, we spent years in Narnia ruling it but when we came back here, back to England, it had only been a few hours at most!" His blue eyes searched hers, then he let go of her hands, resumed walking and said, "Look would it help if you talked to Susan, Lucy and Ed?"

"Maybe it would," she thought, "maybe if I could get him to talk about it in front of his family they would convince him to get the help he needed."

"Al right, I'll talk to them." she agreed feeling that the places had been switched and she was the one being convinced to get some medical help! They had now reached the street where Sally lived and Peter was just on the road behind hers, they were nearly home.

"Oh great! You're a star Sal!" he said and hugged her. To be wrapped in the arms she most wanted while he was most likely crazy was a pain she hoped she never had to endure again, but despite that 

she hugged him back just as fiercely. He pulled away first and putting his hands on her shoulders said eagerly, "Come to ours tomorrow and we can explain everything!"

"Alright then I'll see you tomorrow Peter. We're here now and it's almost tea time! You had better get going or we'll both be in trouble!"

"Alright, but you will come wont you?" Peter looked anxiously at her.

"Of course I will silly, I said I would didn't I? Now go on! I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Ok, bye Sal!" he said with a smile.

"Bye Pete." She walked up the short path to her Georgian style home, opened the door, stepped inside and turned to wave goodbye to Peter. He waved back and Sally watched him till he was around the corner and out of sight, then she closed the door and leaned heavily against it, wondering with a feeling of foreboding what tomorrow would bring.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day the people of London woke up to an angry purple sky throwing down lashings of stinging rain and a horrible wind that would go through you rather than around you, a lazy wind Sally called it. The leaves were whipped into a frenzied sort of dance in the wind eddies and the rain caused a stinging pain as it touched the skin.

Seemingly regardless of all this however a small figure could be seen running round the corner of St. George's Street towards number thirty-two, the Pevensie residence.

Yes this was Sally Potts on her way to talk with the siblings of Peter Pevensie. The weather matched the wild feelings inside her as she was completely unsure as to how this would go. After all, how often is it that you go around to your friend's house to tell his brother and sisters that he was most likely mad? Not often at all and Sally was not looking forward to it! She dashed up the street cursing the rain as it splashed inside her shoes and soaked her socks.

She pushed the gate open and ran to the door. Once there she pulled hard on the doorbell and stood there shivering.

"Oh come on! Come on! Open the door!" she thought desperately. Finally the door was opened and there stood a tallish woman in her mid-thirties (although if you hadn't know her you would have thought her older) her face was lined with many months worry and terror. Her greying hair was pulled back into a loose bun and stray strands of hair flew about her grey eyes in the wind that reached her from the outside. She was wiping her hands on an apron and she smiled when she saw who it was at the door.

This was s Helen Pevensie, so like her eldest daughter Susan in looks, yet much more like her youngest daughter Lucy on the inside. To Sally she was a sort of role model and one of the best cooks she had ever known!

"Oh Sally dear! Come in out of that horrible weather! Come in here!" She held the door wide for Sally to pass through.

"T-thank you M-Mrs P-Pevensie!" She chattered.

"Oh here, give me your wet coat dear; I'll put it on the range in front of the fire to dry it for you! The four of them are up in the girl's bedroom I think. You can go on up to them, oh and by the way could you tell them that the bread is going into the stove now and should be ready soon enough."

"Yes Mrs. Pevensie! Thank you!" Sally replied and went to run up the narrow staircase. Now that she was indoors out of the wind and rain she wasn't nearly half as cold as she had been and she felt much happier and more optimistic.

When she reached the landing Sally was faced with three doors. The one to the right and the front of the house was the largest room and it was Mr and Mrs. Pevensie's (well at least she assumed it was because she had never been inside it) The one next to it was the smallest and it belonged to the two boys Peter and Edmund. Next to it at the end of the house was the girl's bedroom and it was only slightly larger than the boys. It was on this door that Sally knocked, expecting to see the four of them in there.

"Yes?" Susan opened the door, a wide smile curving on her full lips, grey eyes shining with mirth.

"Oh, hullo Sal, come on in!" Sally followed her into the already overcrowded room. Peter and Lucy were sitting on one bed while Susan and Edmund sat on the other. A chorus of "Hullo Sal!" rang out as Lucy jumped up and ran to give her a hug round the middle. Sally laughed and said, "Hullo guys! Hi Lu! How are things?"

"Sally! Sally, you'll never guess what!" said Lucy excitedly.

"What Lu?"

"Well it was my birthday last week and Peter and Su and Ed got me a new doll! Look, Look!"

Sally saw that Lucy was holding a small rag doll in her hands and was thrusting it towards her. She took it and had a good long look at it. The doll was fairly new, with a mane of red hair, green button eyes and a happy smile. She was wearing a pink skirt and white cardigan. It must have been quite expensive.

"Oh Lucy its lovely! What did you call her?" said Sally delightedly.

"Mrs. Beaver!" said Lucy excitedly.

"Mrs...What?" Sally was very confused.

"Mrs. Beaver, after Mrs. Beaver in Narnia!"

Sally froze. Narnia. The whole room had gone suddenly silent, the wind roaring past the window was the only sound and it was now amplified so much in the tense silence that it seemed to fill the room.

"Oh my. Peter had talked to someone else about all this." She thought, "He had talked to Lucy and the poor child thought it was a great story! She liked it so much that she had named her new doll after one of the characters in it! Ooh Peter!"

"Narnia?" she said calmly, then looked over at Peter. He squirmed uncomfortably under her gaze.

"Yes, Narnia, you wanted to talk to the rest of them so here you are. Tell her!" he addressed first Sally then his siblings.

Sally couldn't believe this was happening! "They couldn't all possibly..." she trailed off when Susan started to speak.

"It's true Sal, Narnia is real! We've all been there!"

"Yea!" piped up Lucy in the back, "It's beautiful!"

"No, it's not! You cannot have a world in the back of a wardrobe! I don't care how big said wardrobe is! It didn't happen!" Sally cried desperately. So far that was three out of four who believed in it, Edmund hadn't said anything. "Surely Ed will help me here! The whole lot of them can't be delusional!" thought Sally wildly.

The whole room went silent again as they turned to Edmund. He stayed silent for a few more minutes looking at Sally. Then he turned to look at Peter.

"What's the point?" He said, "She won't believe us anyway! And you shouldn't have told her in the first place! What were you thinking?!"

The floor seemed to fall from beneath Sally' feet. "All of them. They all believed it." She thought numbly. Then her mind started to search for a plausible, rational explanation.

"They must have been horribly treated." She thought, "You do hear of that sometimes where people are treated horribly they create a place for themselves to go to hide from it all, someplace wondrous and full of magic! Yes that must be what happened!" her mind grasped at the last and only straw left. When she tried to explain her theory though they all but laughed at her.

"Why can't you just believe in magic Sal?" Peter asked her, grinning.

"Because magic doesn't exist! She hissed vehemently. "You're all mad and you need help! I'm leaving!" And with that she turned around, flew out of the room, down the stairs, grabbed her coat and (ignoring Mrs. Pevensie's cries and asking her what was wrong) she flew out the door. However she was only one house down when Peter caught up to her.

"Sal! Sally hold on a minute!"

It was still raining heavily and he was drenched to the bone when he reached her. His hair stuck to his forehead and the rain was running rivers down his face. His blue eyes were desperate with worry.

"Sal, hang on a second!"

"No Peter! First thing Monday morning I'm going to the headmaster and he'll get you all the help you need and –"

"No, Sal he won't." Peter said flatly.

"Yes, he will because-"

"No. He won't Sally because we don't go to that school anymore. Haven't you wondered why we haven't been back yet?" he asked.

"Well, yeah, but I..." to tell the truth she hadn't really thought all that much about it because after all it was only the second day back and she still got to see them after school.

"We're leaving Sally. For boarding school."

"Boarding school, but then we won't..."she trailed off, horrified.

"No, we won't see each other until at least Christmas." Peter said tiredly.

"But...When do you leave?" she asked quietly.

"Monday."

"Monday! Oh Peter!" and she fling her arms around his neck because no matter where he thought he had been. Or what he thought he had done, he was still her Peter, her rock, her best friend. He hugged her back tightly and they stood like that for a while, the rain washing away the tears.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey!! Thanks soooo much to everyone who reveiwed and left their advice!! I really appreciate it!! :):):):):):) Unfortunately though this will be the last chapter for a couple of weeks because I'm going on holidays, but on the bright side when I come back I'll have the next couple done!! :D:D

Disclaimer; I dont own the Chronicles of Narnia (more's the pity!!) only Sally, Aunt Lizzy and the story line are mine!

So enjoy the story and let me know what you think!! :D:D:D

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Sally was determined to make her last day with the Pevensies (mainly Peter) count. The only drawback was, she was afraid they would start talking about Narnia again

Granted it was a small concern when she thought that they may not be talking again for some months!

She was so determined to make it special that she spent all her savings on five tickets to a small village outside of London called 'Wattle'. In Wattle lived Sally's favourite Aunt Elizabeth, or Lizzy, as she preferred to be known. Lizzy was an old spinster in her fifties, but she was the only one who even came close to Mrs. Pevensies's cooked meals and might even beat her when it came to pastry's and desserts!

But why, you may ask, on her last day with her very best friends would Sally spend all her savings on tickets to see her aunt, whom the Pevensies had never met before!

Well, Aunt Lizzy just happened t live beside a fabulous forest that had the perfect clearing for having picnics!

So, at half nine on Sunday morning the five met at the train station, each with a satchel and a spare change of clothes, after all no one can predict the weather and this was turning out t be a very unpredictable September!

The day itself started out quite well, the sun was shining form a fluffy clouded sky, a light breeze blew and the temperature was warm.

"This was such a fabulous idea Sal!" cried Susan excitedly.

Sally laughed, "I just wanted our last day together for the next couple of months to be really memorable!" she said happily, and it looked like it was. Everything was going perfectly! The train was on time for once and they even got a compartment to themselves! During the journey (which was only an hour long) they played 'Snap' which Lucy always mysteriously 'won', laughed, chatted and generally had a great time!

By the time they had reached Wattle the sky had grown pretty overcast, but the weather was still warm and spirits were high so it didn't bother them as much as it might have on any other Sunday.

They were having such fun on the train that they had been sitting in the station for a whole two minutes until Lucy (who hadn't yet started history to know enough to complain about how horrible it was to join in the conversation) said, "Why are we stopped if no one's getting off?"

This made Sally look around and she immediately recognised the little station, not to mention the large sign that said 'Welcome to Wattle'!

"Oh bull! We're here! We've stopped because _we're _supposed to be getting off! Quick! Has everyone got everything? Let's go!" There was a frantic scrambling as everyone tried to get everything together and get out! The five of them sprinted down the aisle to the nearest door and made it just in time!

They all fell onto the platform in stitches of laughter and luckily they were the only ones on it or they would have had to sober up pretty sharpish! As it was though, they could sit down and laugh as much as they wanted. Eventually when they were only left with hiccups and wide grins they got up and made their way to the exit of the small station.

"So Sal, where to from here?" asked Edmund who walked behind the girls with Peter.

"Well my aunt's house is just down this laneway here and it shouldn't take more than five minutes to get there even walking slowly!" Sally lifted the hand that wasn't encased in Lucy's and pointed to their right. There they saw a small country lane winding away amidst tall grass and late summer flowers. It really was quite pretty! So they set off walking and joking. Sure enough in about five minutes they came to a little cottage set into a field. It was also extremely pretty, the hedge 

surrounding it was still full of green leaves, the little garden gate was painted white and blue to match the whitewashed walls and blue gutters of the house. Ivy had claimed one side of the house but only on the condition that it was neat, for it was neatly arranged around the windows and climbing subtly around the corner to the side. As for the garden itself, it was pretty with late flowers and herbs and a little walkway to the front door.

"Oh!" said Lucy and Susan happily. "It's so pretty!"

Sally grinned and walked towards the door and knocked on it. Even from outside a heavenly scent of baking surrounded the five friends, making their mouths water and their stomachs rumble.

Suddenly a face appeared out of the window to the left of the door. It was a wide flabby face surrounded by grey curls, but it was a face full of humour and the joys of life. The blue eyes lit up and the whole face brightened, then it was gone.

"Aunt Lizzy!" Sally cried as the door flew open.

"Sally lass!" cried the old woman, flinging her arms wide.

Sally flew into the arms of her favourite aunt with squeals of joy.

"Aunt Lizzy, I'd like you to meet my best friends!" Sally said happily.

The other four had hung around the doorway awkwardly, but now Sally called them forwards and introduced them.

"Aunt Lizzy, this is Lucy!" Aunt Lizzy looked down as Lucy came forward.

"Lucy!" she exclaimed, "What a pretty name for such a pretty girl!" then she turned very serious and bent down to be eye-to-eye with her. "Tell me Lucy, do you like scones and apple tart?"

Lucy (who had, needless to say, beamed at the compliment as any child would) then frowned, slightly confused, "Yes," she said, "Why, should I not? Is it a bad thing?"

Aunt Lizzy laughed, a great booming laugh, "No child! Not at all! I think you and I will get along just fine, for you see, scones and apple tart are my specialities!"

Lucy beamed again and stepped inside.

"Aunt, this is Edmund."

"Edmund! So serious a name!" Aunt Lizzy faked a terrible frown causing Lucy to burst into a fit of giggles and Edmund to grin.

"Hello Edmund, nice to meet you young man! She shook his hand while scrutinising his face, "Hmmmm, you're going to be quite the lady's man in a few years aren't you!" Edmund grinned even wider, looking quite pleased with himself, causing Aunt Lizzy to laugh loudly again.

"And tell me young Edmund, do _you_ like scones and tart?"

Edmund nodded, "Oh yes!" he said eagerly.

"Good, good!" Aunt Lizzy nodded and patted his hand. Sally laughed and introduced Susan.

"Susan. Perhaps not one of my favorite names but a name full of caring and kindness all the same" Susan quickly found her hands in both of Aunt Lizzy's. "Mmhhmmmmm! Just as I expected! Pretty and full of gentleness. I bet you have to beat the boys away with a stick don't you!" she said in a conspiritorial tone accompanied by a wink. Susan blushed and looked down. Aunt Lizzy chuckled soflty, "Now I'm not going to ask you if you like scones and tart, because if I'm right – and I usually am, dearie – you'll eat them whether you like them or not, am I right?" Susan looked up in surprise, but nodded and smiled, then was released and she went to join Lucy and Edmund.

"Aunt Lizzy," Sally said to get her aunt's attention, "This is Peter."

"Good gracious child! How many more of them are there?!"

"I'm the last one I assure you!" Peter said, smiling and extending his hand.

"Ahhhhh." Said Ant Lizzy softly as she took his hand, "I see you've left the best until last as usual Sally." Peter looked uncertainly towards Sally (who had flushed slightly) "Hmm, Peter. A good name; strong, loyal, brave, if slightly hot-headed, am I right?" It wasn't really a question, she knew she was. Then she released his hand without any further questions about pastry desserts and said cheerfully, "Well let's head into the kitchen shall we?" and she grabbed a hold of Sally's arm and threaded it through her own.

"He's very handsome!" she said waggling her eyebrows at Sally.

"Oh...er...what?" Sally said distractedly. Aunt Lizzy just laughed again and opened the door at the end of the hall to the kitchen.

The rest of the day was spent in a glorious picninc accompanied by Aunt Lizzy's fantastic sandwitches and scones, in a clearing scattered with blue Forget Me Nott's, Buttercups (Lucy insisted on running around and shining them under everyone's chin!) and a small stream in which they dangled their feet.

It started to rain in the early evening and Aunt Lizzy exclaimed excitedly, "Oh this is simply marvellous! Quick Susan bring the tea out to that table outside, Edmund put up that umbrella would you?!" and so they had tea outside in the rain, under an umbrella! It really was the most fantastically, wonderfully, random day! But the best was yet to come!

As they were preparing to leave Aunt Lizzy disappeared for a few minutes down the hall. When she came back she was carrying five dried little blue flowers.

"Here," she said, giving a flower to each person and on closer inspection they saw that they were Forget Me Nott's. "I know you all picked fresh flowers today but they will wither. These flowers I picked with my friends on the eve of the first of their weddings." She looked fondly down at the little flowers, "I want you young people to have them now. Put inside them your favourite memories of today, so that when you're away from each other you'll never forget. Then if you get lonely you can pick up your flower and be warmed by the memory that surrounds you."

They all looked down at their flower, some somewhat doubtfully, they looked very fresh for flowers that were picked years ago!

"But Aunt Lizzy," said Susan (for they had all taken to calling her 'Aunt') "these flowers must be quite old, no offence intended! How are they still so fresh?"

Aunt Lizzy nodded and smiled softly.

"Memories, child. Memories keep them fresh. The closer and more treasured the memory the fresher the flower stays."

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Thanks for reading!! Dont forget to press that button and let me know what you think!! :D:D


	4. Chapter 4

Hey!! I'm back!! Sorry for the delay... I had lots to do!! But here's the next chapter, hop you enjoy it!! I'm also looking for an official beta if anyone's interested! Thanks a mil to my sister who has been like my unofficial beta, reading and giving advice on the chapters as they're written!!So..yea..have fun!! This chapter is a bit emo, but it shouldn't get anymore emo than this!! Don't forget to leave a review at the end and any suggestions etc. are greatly apprectiated!!

Thanks!!

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"Damn them! Damn them all!!" It was well past midnight but Sally Potts was still lying awake. She was thinking of the next morning; after tomorrow morning she would have to go to school alone, come home alone, do homework alone. Basically she would be alone...again.

"Why does everyone have to leave me?" she thought wallowing in self pity.

None of the other children in school liked Sally very much; they all thought she was strange. Oh, not that anyone had actually said anything, but as we all know children have ways of communicating such things and what we also know is that children can be quite cruel, unintentionally or otherwise. However Sally always thought; "Well if no one was a little strange, well then the world would be a very dull place to be!"

No one had exactly told her _why_ they thought she was strange, but she guessed it had something to do with the fact that she didn't give a toss about what they have said and still do say about her weight. Now she wasn't, fat, per say, just not a lamppost like Susan and some of the other girls and she didn't particularly care either, she was just happy!

Fed up with her thoughts going in confusing spirals Sally got up and lit a lamp. She walked over to her dresser and opened the top drawer. Here she took out a large leather-bound photograph album. Not many had one of these during such times but Sally's had been her mother's so she had kept it safe with her all through the war.

She opened it now and flipped through it to the one she wanted to see; it was an old picture of herself as a baby with her parents.

As in the style of the day neither was smiling and if you had only glanced at it quickly you might have thought that they had been informed that someone had died. However, if you looked closely at it you would have seen the barely contained smiles and the pride and joy emanating from their eyes through the varying shades of brown on the worn paper.

Sally ran her fingers lovingly over the faces of her parents, smiling softly. As much as she hated it her father was part of her past and her mother might as well be; she was off in the country making a living and said she would send for Sally when she had enough money for the two of them. She had been gone for just under a year now and Sally had begun to think she would never be sent for. She had thought she had found her future but no, now he and his family would be taken from her too. She flipped to the back of the album where a small flower lay, accompanied by a child's drawing. The drawing showed five stick people holding hands. They were standing under a crayon blue sky and a carpet of velvet pencilled grass. Each person had a name scrawled in childish handwriting above their head; "Me, Peter, Sally, Susan, Edmund." It was a picture Lucy had drawn for her when they had first become friends and to Sally it was one of her most prized possessions.

Now though she turned her attention to the little blue flower. It was a Forget Me Not and looked as fresh as though it had been picked yesterday. We of course know that she did indeed get it yesterday, but from her aunt who had picked the flower decades ago and that the same aunt had told her to put a memory into it.

"How can you put a memory into a flower?" Sally thought sceptically, "You can't, you just _associate_ a memory with the flower. Aunt Lizzy was just telling tales again." However, it was the witching hour, she was all alone in her candle-light room, and her certainty began to waver. It happens to many in such circumstances and Sally became curious.

"Well, maybe...I mean...What's the harm? It is just a flower...Right?" and so, taking a deep breath she brought her favourite memory to the front of her mind and imagined pushing it into the heart of the flower.

Almost immediately she was back there, back in her favourite moment of that wondrous day!

_The rain was pelting down now as it had then, but they were all mostly dry because of the large umbrella Edmund had put up over the table. Everyone was laughing at one of Aunt Lizzy's stories. Sally looked around at the faces surrounding her; Lucy's face was almost split in two with the force of her laughter and her eyes were all scrunched up, tears beginning to stream from them! Edmund was chuckling, holding back a little so he didn't look as though he was having too much fun, as a boy that age tends to do! Susan had let go of her usual serious self and was laughing heartily along, her face transformed by her wide smile. Peter was laughing loudly along too, his blue eyes crinkled and shining with mirth, mouth stretched into a fabulous smile. He looked at her and his smile widened, eyes shining and telling of his joy and immeasurable thanks to her for this day. _

That was her favourite memory, all five of them sitting around Aunt Lizz'y patio table under an umbrella, with the rain pelting all around them holding hot cups of tea and plates of Aunt Lizzy's scrumptious apple tart!

Now, thanks to this well named flower she would never forget that magical day.

Soothed and warmed as Aunt Lizzy had said she would be Sally went back to bed and straight to sleep, a small smile playing on her lips as she drifted off.

"Well this is it." She thought as she made her way up to the Pevensie's front door. Sally was going to the station with them to see them off. Yes this meant she had to miss one day of school but she didn't mind. It was only one day after all.

Just as she reached the door Susan Pevensie opened it, the laughter of yesterday all but disappeared

"Oh, hullo Sal," she said demurely. "We're just waiting on Peter, as usual, but other than that we're ready to go."

Today was a good day for no one, they would all miss Sally, she was a part of the family now.

"Peter do hurry up! Sally's here!" Susan called up the stairs.

"Sally!" cried Lucy, running out to give her a hug.

"Hey Lu! How are you?"

"I don't want to go away to school Sally! I want us to stay here and be friends!" whined Lucy crushing her face into Sally's coat.

"Oh Lucy shush! We will stay friends, don't you worry! We'll write each other every weekend and you'll have to tell me all about the new friends you'll be making."

Before Lucy reply to this Peter came rushing down the stairs.

"Ok, ok I'm here! Keep your hair on Su!"

"Right then let's get going. We had better not miss the train."

So they left the house and made their slow, reluctant way to the station, they had no luggage because it was being sent off after them during the next few days.

Once there when all had their tickets, they were lucky enough to find a bench to themselves on their platform. They sat in silence, neither sure of what to say and yet all afraid of bursting with things unsaid. Sally felt as though she was suffocating. During the war she hadn't bothered to make friends because they would most likely die, but Peter had made friends with her and after that with the four of them she hadn't needed anyone else, now what would she do?

She needed to clear her head.

"I'll be back in a minute." She said and stood up. Sally only walked around the corner, but once there she leaned against the wall and took a deep breath, trying steady herself.

"You are being incredibly stupid and pathetic Sally Potts!" she scolded herself. "They're only going away to school! Since when are you so whinny and...Needy?! They'll be back by Christmas!"

_Back by Christmas... father had said that too and look at what had happened to him..._a small voice said in the back of her mind.

"No, this is different." She thought to herself, trying to brush it off.

_Oh is it? Oh come on, you know what'll happen here. They'll go off and make new friends and then they won't need you anymore. _Said the voice snidely.

"No that won't happen; they said I'm like family! Peter would-"

_Ah yes Peter. He'll go off and find a new girl and she'll be skinny and pretty and she won't pine after him the way you do! It's getting pathetic! He is just being nice to you because he pity's you!"_

"Oh go away! Be quiet!" she said to her little intruder, and it did, it went away, although Sally could've sworn she heard something chuckling.

"What on Earth was that?" she asked herself. Although this was what she secretly though would happen, she never thought it would come at her like this! Sally shook her head and decided to get back to the others before the train came. As she turned though, something of their conversation reached her ears. One of them was saying; "It feels strange to think of going back to school and leaving Narnia and our adventures behind."

"Narnia again!" she fumed.

Then as she watched them they began to disappear! Sally blinked hard but she almost couldn't see them now! Later on she would wonder why she did what she did but could never find a satisfactory answer. She ran towards them and grabbed onto the nearest jumper for dear life.

The strangest thing happened then; she felt as though she were being...transported somewhere over a great distance.

When the sensation stopped and she opened her eyes it was to see all four of the Pevensie's staring at her agape.

"Sally...what...?" Peter trailed off.

Sally blushed and let go of the (Edmund's) jumper expecting to have to explain why she had grabbed it in the first place. Then she realised that, well, they weren't in the train station anymore! She was standing on grass in the ruins of an old castle! Her mouth dropped open and she thought;

"What in the name of God is going on?!"

* * *

Hope you enjoyed!! Don't forget a review!!


	5. Chapter 5

Hi guys!! Sorry this took so long but I'm having a bit of writers block!! O.O

I hope you enjoy this chapter (even if it is a bit slow) and please stick with the story because the adventure part will begin in the next couple of chapters!! :D

Don't forget to leave a review and tell me what you think!! :D

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"Oh...my..." Sally thought, "What just happened?!" She was vaguely aware of her four friends surrounding her. They might have been trying to say something to her but she didn't know; their voices were very far away.

"I've gone mad..." she thought in shock, "That voice in my head earlier was just the start of it! Maybe it was a warning." She mused. Either way, all she really knew was; she was supposed to be in a train station in London, not the ruins of some stupid castle in the country!

"Sally!" she realised someone was shaking her, and pretty roughly too! She looked at their face and recognised Edmund's worried brown eyes.

"Ed?" she asked vaguely.

"Yeah Sal! It's Ed, are you alright?" Sally looked around to see Peter standing just behind Edmund, Susan and Lucy beside him, all gazing at her with worry and fear etched across their faces. She shook her head in an effort to clear it. "Nope, still in some weird castle." she thought.

She sighed and looked back at them, "Yes, I-I'm fine. I think." She said.

"You sure?" Peter asked, moving past Edmund to stand in front of her, his voice and eyes full of concern.

Sally decided to try and play normal, as though nothing had happened. Well, at least until they were safely on the train and on their way to school, then she could worry about the state of her sanity!

"Yes I'm fine Peter, really. Erm, when is the train due again?"

They all looked at her in utmost confusion. She felt as though she should feel around for an extra head, or something of that sort.

"But, Sal..we, well, we're not in the train station, we're not even in England anymore." said Peter tentatively.

"Yea!" Lucy chimed in excitedly, "You're in Narnia now Sal!"

...Narnia...the word echoed hollowly in Sally's head. Of course, where else would she be? Even in her own delusions she is in Peter's imaginary world! How is that fair? Surely she should be in her own imaginary world! But it was too much for her. Her vision went black and she took refuge in unconsciousness.

Sally woke up not at all sure where she was or what had happened. She groaned and tried to roll over, but came to the conclusion that this was a bad idea when her head started to pound, causing her to moan louder.

"Oh Sally you're awake! Thanks be to Aslan!" said a voice by her side. She was too scrambled though to know who it was.

"Su! Lucy! Ed! Sally's awake!" Peter called.

"Oooh my head! Peter stop shouting!" Sally moaned again as she clutched her hands to her head.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Lie still Sal." His hand pushed gently at her shoulder as she tried to get up.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You fainted and hit your head." Peter replied.

"Well that much is obvious. What was I doing? I have a feeling it was important."

"You don't remember?" he asked cautiously, frowning at her.

Sally looked around. Susan, Lucy and Edmund, who had all arrived beside her at some stage, were looking at her with expressions raging from concern to disbelief; there may even have been some anger there too!

Then she remembered. Oh boy did she remember! They were at the train station, when the four of them started to disappear and she had grabbed hold of Edmund's jumper. Next thing she knew she was here, wherever 'here' was. Oh, no wait a moment 'here' was Narnia! And yes, she was still in the castle ruins.

Oh God! Her head hurt even more now! She closed her eyes, put a hand to her forehead, sighed and said; "Yes, I remember. Just explain it again. Please?"

"Well-"Edmund started but Susan cut him off.

"Let me, Ed." She sat down beside Sally, looked into her now open eyes and began. "Sally, we – the four of us, I mean- were called back into Narnia, we don't know exactly why yet, but no doubt it is going to be for some reason like the one that pulled us here before. And by the looks of how Cair Paravel has fared in our absence it is quite obvious that they have let some things get quite out of hand!" Susan was angry and looked away for a moment, but then she came back. "I don't think you were supposed to come with us, but you did and so now you're in Narnia too. Now I have no doubt that you will play a part in what is to come, but you must believe in us and indeed in Narnia, for there must be a valid reason for you to been allowed to come here."

Sally just looked at her. Her mind was empty of anything. If this moment were to be played out in a cartoon you would see a tumbleweed roll in front of her!

"Sally?" said Lucy uncertainly, "You do believe us...don't you?" she was very hesitant and a look of scared uncertainty played across her childish features and it tugged at Sally's heart. Seeking to reassure the child more than anything Sally said; "Of course I do Lucy!! I don't have much of a choice now that I'm here do I?" A look of incredible joy replaced the uncertainty on Lucy's face and she squealed as she jumped up on Sally.

Sally looked around her now and saw the same looks on the faces of her other three friends and she felt horribly guilty.

They had all been telling the truth the whole time and she had called them liars and even accused them of being delusional! She let go of Lucy as a well of shame built up inside her.

They had been telling the truth. They had been here before, it was Narnia and they were...Oh my...they were...they were the Kings and Queens of Narnia! Now shock and horror mingled with the heightened sense of shame as the realisation of how she had treated her friends (who were now royalty) sunk in.

She wanted the ground to open up and swallow her so she wouldn't have to deal with the feelings of indignation and anger that they would no doubt feel once the shock and relief wore off. Maybe they wouldn't talk to her anymore! Maybe, as Kings and Queens they would punish her for her doubt!

"Oh what a horrid mess! And it's all my fault!" Sally turned away from them in shame.

"Sal? Are you ok?" asked Susan, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"No. I'm not." She mumbled.

"Well what's wrong?" she sounded concerned.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't believe you and all along you were telling the truth and I thought you were all going crazy. You probably hate me now don't you!"

"Oh Sally give it a rest!" interjected Peter, "Of course we don't hate you. I knew there was a chance – well more than a chance - that you wouldn't believe me, but you're so much part of the family now that it began to feel wrong to keep this from you. I know it's hard to believe; it's a world in the back of a wardrobe! Believe it or not; you actually reacted well compared to how I thought you would react!"

"Yeah. No hard feelings Sally, you're here now and you believe us! That's all that counts!" Lucy smiled widely at her.

Sally could hardly trust her ears but a small bubble of hope began to swell in her chest. Could they really be that good to her? She looked around at them. "Are you sure? I feel just awful about it!"

"Relax Sally!" Susan laughed. "If anything we should be thanking you!"

"Ok, now I'm confused." She thought but said "What? Why would you thank me?"

"Because even though you thought we were insane and you were probably scared you still stuck by us and gave us the most amazing going away gift we could have possibly have wanted! You stayed by us and proved how far you would go for us and how valuable a friend you are."

"Yea!" Lucy agreed and then said excitedly; "Now get up off the ground and let us show you Narnia!"

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!!

Don't forget to leave a review!! :D


	6. Chapter 6

Hi, sorry about the delay!! This is just a filler chapter, but I hope you enjoy it!! :D (Usual disclaimers apply!!)

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What a day it was! Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund showed Sally all around Cair Paravel – or what had been Cair Paravel!- and when they came across a tomb that they didn't remember, well they couldn't just leave it locked now could they! So after a bit of hard work and elbow grease the huge stone door was opened. Excitedly they made their way down the old stairs into a large stone room. Looking around they found that it had been dedicated to the four old Kings and Queens of the 'Golden Age' of Narnia. There were huge stone chests under magnificent statues that held all their old weapons and some of their most prized possessions. Everyone who had received a gift from Father Christmas at the end of the long winter that first time in Narnia welcomed their old weapons and gifts back like long lost friends! They stayed a while in that old chamber and told Sally many stories of how they had come by the weapons and some of the adventures they had with them! Sally however noticed something amiss; Edmund hadn't gotten a gift from the legendary man with the beard and she asked why this was. The silence after that made Sally want to take the words back, Peter, Susan and Lucy all looked to Edmund to see his reaction. He smiled strangely and told her he would tell her when she was more used to Narnia and didn't have as much to see as she did now! With that they all cheered and made to get out of the tomb to go see more of the magical land of Narnia!

It was now almost a week and a half since they had arrived from the train station in London and Sally found that almost impossible to believe! It had been absolutely crazy, not to mention terrifying, tiring, unbelievable, beautiful and, well, magical! She was exhausted! From those first few minutes of accepting it all it had felt as though she would never look at anything the same way again! The trees were alive, as in actually alive! There were spirits in them! She couldn't think of the names for them but she knew that there was one! Lucy had told her!

The animals spoke!! Well at least the ones loyal to...Aslan could, they were the ones in the resistance, the 'Old Narnians' as they called themselves. Because it turned out that Narnia was not as magical in that respect as she had hoped; they had wars too and was on the verge of one right now.

She had met a lot of interesting characters in her short time here. The first had been a very grumpy dwarf named...Named..."Good God! What was his name again? I am afraid I will never remember it! Thunderclap? Thunderbolts? Oh here, I give up, I shall call him Grumpy!" They had met 'Grumpy' outside of Cair Paravel, he was being badly mistreated by some men in a rowboat and what looked like chain mail (though Sally had thought it was bit absurd and hadn't really understood what was going on) so her friends had run to help the dwarf. Afterwards though they almost regretted their action for he was most ungrateful and surly. However he had given them key bits of information such as; it was almost a century and a half since they had last been there. That came as quite a shock 

to them; it was one thing to know that it had obviously been more than a little while, but to know it was over a century and a half was quite another! Also that the Telmarines had invaded Narnia and taken control of it. They had hunted down all the talking animals and magical creatures until the last ones were forced to take refuge underground and had stayed there hidden for over twenty years! These were the 'Old Narnians' and the new ones are the ones that came in from Telmare. The Pevensies were furious when they learned this and demanded to be taken to the resitance immediately!

The Old Narnians now resided in a place called Aslan's How. It was a huge mound built with tunnels and rooms, kitchens and one large 'war room'. In the centre of all this was a Great Stone Table that was said to have been there since the dawn of time and even to have once been a place of horror where the White Witch had killed Aslan!

After much arguing and persuasion-not to mention a little show of strength and skill to prove who they were- Grumpy had taken them to Aslan's How and to the leader of the New Narnians, Prince Caspian!

Prince Caspian was a boy who was just slightly older than they were. He was what the "Old Narnians" called a "New Narnian"; he was of Telmarian birth but he was the rightful King and he hated his uncle who had him run out of the castle because his wife had had no male air to take over the throne so now Caspian would take it. His uncle didn't like Caspian and was trying to hunt him down and kill him before he could ascend the throne. But most importantly in the eyes of the resistance he showed a respect and a love for the old Narnians and their ways so that they all grew to respect and possibly even like him. Sally wasn't sure about him, he seemed very arrogant to her.

Reepicheep was one of her favourite new acquaintances! He was a mouse, but a rather large one, he stood at about ten inches from the ground! He carried a 'mouse-sized' sword and wore a large hat with a feather plume in it! She loved him but always shook her head in disbelief when he wold come into the room. He was rather eccentric but very brave and loyal. Sally found him hilarious and loved it when he would stop to talk to her, which he often did when he was back from scouting or spying or whatever it was you sent a large talking mouse to do!

At the moment though Sally was a little annoyed; they had arrived at Aslan's How three days ago and she had only seen her friends once! They were constantly in the 'war room' with Caspian and all his advisors trying to come to a decision; whether to stay hiding out here and keep everyone hidden and alive or to gather an army and to stand against Caspian's uncle in a war to bring back the throne and break the tyranny. Once that decision was made how were they to move on from there. Now looking at the Great Stone Table Sally wished she was in there with them, she missed her friends and felt lonely, but whenever she saw them they all looked exhausted and frustrated and the three older ones had large dark circles around their eyes. She was a bit miffed at being dumped in the underground world of rebellious talking animals, nymphs, sprites, dwarfs, centaurs, fawns and many other such strange creatures all by herself! She had made a fool out of herself so many times! Although she knew they had more important things to worry about than her, Sally would always remember the first day when a fabulous tigress had stalked towards her, green eyes glowing and growling softly. Even from a few feet away Sally could tell she would be looking into the tigress's eyes when the animal reached her. She had shrunk back against the wall in fear and even shrieked when it reached her and opened its mouth. The animal had only been sent to show her to the 

dinner table and at Sally's shriek of fear had snorted as a laugh and a group of passing fawns had burst into peals of laughter at her too! The humiliation was enough for Sally to want someone with her at all times to prevent such incidents from happening again!

Suddenly she heard something behind her.

"Er, Sally, wasn't it?" said a voice softly. The sound nearly caused her to jump out of her skin with the shock!

"Christ!" she exclaimed, turning around, hair flying, heart hammering. "Don't do that! You scared the life out of me!"

"Sorry!" said an apologetic Prince Caspian. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Oh, that's ok...Sir." she wasn't sure what to call him. Was 'Your Highness' acceptable here or was 'Your Majesty' better? Did monarchs demand any special tile here at all? So, confused she decided to play it safe and that 'Sir' would suffice for now.

"Oh no, please, call me Caspian, I hate all that royal stuff, especially in a time of war, we need everyone on the same level to feel that they have friends to fight for not just monarchs!" he said insistently.

"Oh." _Well that was unexpected_. "So it's definitely a time of war then?" she asked hesitantly.

Caspian sighed, "Yes, I am afraid it is. The decision was made not two hours ago. We will be going to war against my uncle." He seemed very resigned and...broody. But then who wouldn't be if they had to lead a small revolutionary army against a huge professional one?

"Oh, I'm sorry." He said nothing and the two stood there awkwardly for a few minutes. Unable to bear it any longer Sally broke the silence; "So, can I help you with anything?"

He seemed to start at the sound of her voice, as if he was shocked she was still there.

"Oh, yes as a matter of fact. I would like you to look after your friends Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund. They have been working very hard and although I appreciate their help it is me who is King, not them. So if you could convince them to relax a bit and let me handle it that would be great."

Sally was shocked, "But they've been through this before, they know a lot more than you do, you could learn so much from them. I don't understand why you would want them away?"

"That is the reason! How will my people follow me if they think I am just doing what I am told by four -supposed to be dead might I add- other kings and queens? I need to lead my people not them!"

"But-"

"Please just talk to them." With that Prince Caspian walked away leaving an angry Sally behind.

That evening's dinner was an uncomfortable event. Sally thought Caspian was letting his immature arrogance interfere with how he should be doing things to save his people and country from the hands of a tyrant and she did not like him.

Her four friends noticed the tension and kept shooting her questioning glances, but she would shake her head as if to say 'later'. However she did not have a 'later' because a centaur came in during dinner with an arrow deep in his side, blood pouring profusely from the wound and creating havoc!

"Quick! Lucy go get your fire-flower cordial!" Peter shouted at her as they all sprang up from the table. Everyone was running around trying to help but mainly getting in the way. The large centaur slipped into unconsciousness before Lucy arrived back so Peter and Caspian sent everyone who wasn't needed outside. Unfortunately this included Sally, she glared at Peter as she left, but he didn't notice, he was too involved in what he was doing. Angry and frustrated again Sally decided to go to bed. She would leave them to Caspian's wrath as they had left her.

_They deserve it!_ Said a snide voice in her head, _They shouldn't have left me on my own in this creepy place! They deserve to be left alone too!_ She was so angry it unsettled her. Why was she so mad?

_Because they haven't been acting like friends! _Said the voice poisonously,_ They left you at one sign of trouble when you stuck by them through so much more!_

Oh shut up! She thought, annoyed with the voice. I'm just tired, that's all, I just need a good early nights' sleep!

So Sally went to bed early without seeing her friends again and she slept fitfully in her small earthen room, on silken sheets and fluffy pillows. But her dreams were full of unnamed horrors and fears, none of which she could either explain or even remember in the morning!

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Hey!! I know this took ages and it's not the best but it is just a filler chapter o don't get too mad!! If you have any advice or would like anything in particular to happen don't be shy, just drop me a review and let me know!! :D


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey sorry about the delay but the amount of homework is feckin killin me!! :P**

**Apparently teachers don't like us to have any amount of free time!! Who knew?!**

**Anyhu...hope you enjoy this chapter!!**

**Unfortunately I own only Sally and the story-line.**

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A few hours later Sally woke up with a huge headache! So – thankful that there were no windows in her underground bedroom to pour agonising light in on her – she put on a warm dressing gown over her nightdress and went searching for the kitchens and some pain-relief. Something along the lines of a good chocolate cake or something else as smothered in chocolate and sugar!

To her surprise she met no one as she wandered about. "I wonder what's up?" she thought, "The place seems empty!" She turned corner after corner and not a soul did she meet. The earthen floors and ceilings began to make her feel a little claustrophobic and it was very cold even with her dressing gown.

"I'm sure I've been down this way before!" The long tunnels and their bracketed torches all looked unerringly familiar and Sally began to panic. "I could have been going around in circles the whole time! I'm lost! How am I ever going to find my way back now?!- This would never have happened if I had been shown around the place properly! -If only I could find my way to the Stone Table!" she knew that she could find her way from there, if only she could get to it!

Sally began to feel as though she was being watched. The sensation sent shivers up her spine. "Hello?" she called out but no one answered. A chill ran through her, causing goose-bumps to break out on her cool skin as she shivered. Footsteps echoed eerily through the passage that linked off to the one she stood in at the moment. Her arms found their way around her torso as she clung to herself.

"Hello?" she called out again. "Peartre? Is that you?" Peartre was a small faun whom Lucy was convinced was some form of relation to Mr. Tumnus from the Golden Age. Peartre was known to be a little odd and to keep to himself, but whenever there was anything that needed to be done he was one of the first to volunteer.

"Peartre this isn't funny!" Sally called out to the shadow looming from the other tunnel. It was oddly elongated and seemed to twist and struggle over the uneven surface of the wall. However it didn't have the cloven feet of the faun but two long human legs.

"Sally is that you?" the call came from the tunnel and Sally felt relief flood through her at the sound of his voice. He would definitely know where the kitchen was! Her head throbbed at the thought of the reason she was out here in the first place, she had forgotten about it in her panic.

"Peter, thank God! Yes it's me!" she said as she saw him coming out of the tunnel carrying a torch in one hand. The flame's light made his hair look like strands of golden thread, but only illuminated harshly the bags under his tired blue eyes and the exhausted lines on his face.

"Oh, hi Sal! I haven't seen you in such a long time!" he said as he smiled at her. "But what are you doing up so late? Are you ok?" his smile turned into a look of worry.

"Oh yes I'm fine, well, I woke up with a really bad headache and needed something smothered in chocolate to get rid of it. So I got up to go to the kitchen, only I got lost and now I don't know where I am."

Peter smiled again, "Don't worry I was heading to the kitchen too, I'll show you where it is!" he started to walk and she fell into step beside him.

"So why were you heading to the kitchens?" she asked.

"Oh you know; the usual. Kingly duties come before hunger I'm afraid! I haven't eaten all day! So I was on my way to a midnight snack."

They walked in a comfortable silence down one tunnel, around two corners and then turned to face a large wooden door in the earthen wall.

"You have got to be joking!" Sally said disbelievingly, "It was this easy?"

Peter laughed and said; "Yes, it was this easy! Did no one show you around?"

"No. They were all too involved in the war room to show their little friend around." She said pointedly.

"Oh. Sorry."He looked away, "But you know I was busy! I can't just ignore all this, I have work to do!"

"Of course! I know that Peter but it doesn't take all that much time to show someone around an overly-large hill! I have felt completely alone and cut off from you four these past few days! The only people who'll talk to me properly are Peartre and Reepicheep, neither of whom are here at the moment!" Sally said quietly.

"Oh Sally I'm sorry!" Peter turned to her with a sorrowful expression on his face and put his arms around her. Sally almost wished he wouldn't because it brought back all those complicated feelings which were all the more complicated now because he was High King, but despite this she put her arms around him too and hugged him tightly.

"Here, come on, let's get some food and then I want to show you something! " Peter said excitedly taking her hand and leading her through the large door. Inside was a very large room! It had countertops of the finest, almost golden wood travelling the whole length; in the centre was a long island that would hold all the dishes and the extras at mealtimes. The counters were topped by huge presses that Sally guessed contained kitchenware and food of all sorts. The floor had been polished down to an almost marble like state through many years of use and the occasional candle gave the kitchen a soft homely glow. It really was the most perfect kitchen Sally had ever seen! But Peter led her past all this to the other end of the room where he opened another, smaller door. In here was where the food was stacked!

There were shelves of backing materials; sugar, flour, baking mix, yeast and countless other things Sally had never seen or even heard of! On another set of shelves there were racks of meat and 

seasonings, on yet another baskets full of fresh fruit and vegetables! Lastly came the shelf Sally was looking for; the one with all the pre-made desserts! There were what looked like black forest gateau, a pavlova and –yes!- a big heavy-looking cake absolutely smothered in chocolate! Sally's mouth watered at just the sight of it! It was heaven!

"Oh Peter!" she said, her voice full of longing, "Can I really have some of that? It looks far too good to eat!"

"Of course you can, I'm the King! You can have whatever you want!" Peter said, grinning at her.

The look of shock and awe was soon replaced by a look of delight that spread rapidly across Sally's face as she went to reach for the cake. Then she just stopped and ran back out into the kitchen and began to frantically open presses and doors everywhere, muttering furiously to herself.

Peter was very confused and ran out after her.

"Sally? What's going on, are you ok?"

Sally's voice came from inside a press somewhere as she replied; "No Peter I'm not ok! I am so much better than ok! I have a huge chocolate cake waiting for me to eat right inside those pantry doors! The only thing missing is a plate and a fork! Neither of which I can find anywhere!" She flopped out of a press near the entrance to the kitchen and Peter was at a complete loss as to how she had gotten there so quickly!

"Erm, Sal, the cutlery is in the drawer by the sink and the plates are just above them." Peter said pointing to the drawer he had just opened.

Her eyes widened and she ran back to him with astonishing speed. "God bless you!" she mumbled as she flung her arms around his neck in gratitude before sprinting back into the pantry.

Peter shook his head in amusement and followed her.

She had just about gotten the enormous cake off it's shelf and was cutting an equally large chunk out of it!

"Do you want a slice Peter?"

"A slice, yes a whole half of the cake, no thanks! Look at the size of this thing! You'll never be able to eat all that!" he said in disbelief.

Sally looked at him pointedly. "This is me and chocolate cake we are talking about here. Of course I'll eat it all."

Peter laughed again. "Right! Hurry up though; I want to show you something!" At the look on her face he shook his head again and said "Don't worry; you can bring your cake!"

Ten minutes later found the pair sitting at the top of Aslan's How, Peter's cape around them, eating their chocolate cake. They could see for miles around them; from the snow-capped mountains in the east to the ruins of Cair Paravel in the west and everything in between. The sun was just rising and it covered the country in a soft burning glow giving the tree tops a reddish – gold hue. It was beautiful.

"So this is your kingdom. Wow, it's...well it's...I mean...wow." Sally turned her wide eyes towards Peter, her breath forming a cloud in front of her as she spoke

"Yes." Peter said looking around peacefully, "This was my kingdom and it was...amazing. But soon it will be Caspian's and I will just be an old story once more." He looked sad as he said this and Sally scooted closer to him.

"Peter, would you like to rule Narnia forever, if you could?"

He turned his head to look at her. "What do you mean?"

Sally sat up straighter and looked him full in the face. "I mean if it were possible, would you rule forever? You said that though years passed in Narnia no time passed at all in our world and though you were an older man in Narnia when you came back you were still a young teenager . So then would it not be possible to rule until you were old, come back home so you would be young and then go back to Narnia young again and rule for another fifty years or so? Would you do it?"

Peter looked away thoughtfully and stayed silent for a while.

"Well, he said it doesn't really work that way, you can never tell when you'll be drawn back to Narnia once you leave it, so you couldn't work it like that."

"Yes, I am aware of that. But if somehow it could be done, would you do it? Give up life in England and our world to be King in Narnia forever?"

Again he was silent, but he seemed to be weighing it up in his mind.

"Would everyone else be here? Like Susan and Lucy and Edmund. Would they be here? Would you?" He looked at her seriously and their eyes met. She fell into his big blue eyes, stomach dropping. The sun had just come up a little bit more, but it was enough to turn everything around her to pure gold and to pour some heat onto her face. Peter's head was surrounded by a golden halo and he looked so angelic and beautiful that he took her breath away. Her heart was pounding in her chest so she thought it would soon break through and fly away.

"_What's happening?" _ she thought. Her heart had leapt to her throat and there was only one image in her mind; Peter's lips. Before she knew what she was doing she had leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. Sparks shot throughout her body and she pressed closer to him. It felt so good to be finally pressed against him. In that moment she knew,_ knew,_ that she was truly, deeply in love with her best friend. But the kiss didn't last very long. He pulled away and looked at her in shock.

"What are you doing?!" he asked incredulously as he sprung up from the ground, eyes wide, breath coming in huge pants.

Sally blushed a deep red; she didn't know what she had been doing, only that it had felt good and she didn't want him to pull away. "I...I..." she couldn't go on, not with the way he was looking at her; like she was crazy or deluded. "It's just a kiss Peter." She tried to pass it off as nothing as she died of shame and embarrassment inside from the look in his eye.

"It was not 'nothing', Sally! Have I ever let you think that you were anything more than a good friend to me? You're like another sister. I could never feel that way about you!"

"_Ouch, that hurt." _ Sally felt as though he had driven a knife into her chest. With tears of humiliation and hurt in her eyes Sally got up and ran away from him. She ran, not back into the mound but down the side and away from him.

Once she was in the surrounding trees she stopped and took a deep breath. Instantly she regretted her decision to run away, now she just looked like a pathetic little baby.

"You fool! Why did you do that!" she said to herself. "Now look at you! You got your kiss but left him revolted and thinking you are a pathetic excuse for a girl! Now you'll probably lose him too!" At that thought more tears filled her eyes and she slid to the ground and began to cry.

**Thanks for reading!! Hope you enjoyed!! Please leave a little review at the end to tell me what you think!! :)**


	8. Chapter 8

That morning Sally woke up and found herself in the roots of a very large tree. "Oh, wow, that's not typical fairytale story at all!" she thought grimly. She tried to sit up but an ache in her neck and back brought her to an abrupt halt. "Ow!" She complained, brining a hand up to rub her sore neck. "Why do the old people never tell you about pain in the great stories?" she wondered, grimacing.

Lying back with a sigh Sally let the memories of last night wash over her. She had finally made a move for Peter and he had soundly rejected her, so, full of shame and anger she had run into the forest to escape him. Now though, she felt that maybe she had acted childishly and she should try to get back to Aslan's How before they sent out people for her.

Wrapped up in her problems as she was, it was a while before the sound of many horses coming quickly along the forest path made an impression on her. The sound of men's voices accompanied the horses and Sally began to feel a bit apprehensive, after all if they were from the Old Narnians then they wouldn't all be men, would they?

"Oh my, who could this be?" Painful as it was Sally managed to get herself up into a standing position and from there to around the other side of the tree to have a sneaky look at the group passing by.

They were coming from the right; a great line of horses with their tails swishing and heads tossing in the clear forest air. Astride the horses sat tall men in bright armour covered with what looked to Sally like a giant bib with a strange picture on it! They also carried swords –well, that's what she assumed was hanging from their waists- and other weapons such as spears.

The image of the men was a very intimidating one for a young woman from London! Just as she was turning to hide herself from the men one of them caught sight of her and called out to her: "Ho there young Maiden! What are you doing out here?" she looked back at him in time to see him rein in his horse and bring his troop to a halt.

Looking up at him Sally felt her insides freeze. He was a very big powerful man with wide-set black eyes, a black moustache and yes, black cropped hair. He was frowning at her and his look seemed to go right through her, making her shrink into herelf and her eyes open wide.

"M-my name is Sally." She said, proud that her voice wasn't shaking too much! "I just fell asleep behind the tree last night."

For some reason unknown to Sally the soldiers seemed to find this hilarious! They laughed loud and long and their leader turned back to them, nodding his head in her direction as if to say; "Would you get a load 'a this one!"

Turning back to her, he stopped laughing and said: "Oh! Fell asleep behind the tree did we? And what pray tell were we doing in this remote part of the forest that has you tired enough to sleep in the open behind a tree?!"

Sally finally caught onto their insinuations and blushed furiously. "Oh, no it wasn't-"

But she had no time to finish her sentence as the lead interrupted her and said; "A come on now girl, you must be starving! Come back to our camp and we'll get you some food for your...Eh...belly!"

Alarm bells began to ring in Sally's head and she tried to politely decline but was again interrupted, "You'll come girl, whether you like it or not!" and with that he motioned to one of his lower soldiers who jumped down off his horse and came quickly towards Sally. She tried to back away but he was too fast and in no more than a few seconds had her scooped up and over his shoulder. Enraged Sally beat at his back with her fists but unfortunately had forgotten about the armour he wore and just ended up hurting herself! So to her shame she had no alternative but to resort to being the ultimate damsel in distress...she screamed for help at the top of her lungs!

The soldier was startled but recovered quickly and he clamped a hand over her mouth, however Sally had known he would do this so she immediately bit down on his hand...hard! With a cry of pain he quickly let her fall to the ground, cursing profoundly at the blood on his palm!

Eager for a chance of escape Sally was on her feet in seconds, but unfortunately their leader was in front of her already and he was furious! His black eyes were narrowed and looked like two small, glittering, black beetles in his cold face. He dismounted slowly and walked over to where she stood panting, her hair all over her face and a dead leaf in her mouth. When he came level to her he stopped and glared down at her, as he stood a good two feet above her. Then without warning he brought his hand up and gave her a vicious backhanded slap across the face. Sally was stunned and fell once more to the hard forest floor, the world spinning around her and her check and lip split!

Then he bent down to look at her in the face, looking deep into her eyes he said very slowly and clearly, but without any trace of emotion; "Never, ever disobey like that again. I f you do I will make sure you wish you had never come here."

Sally nodded mutely, terrified and he stood up to return to his horse, nodding to the solider she had bitten who promptly came to take her up again, albeit a bit more roughly than last time! He strode over to his horse and slung her across the pommel of his saddle.

That is how Sally came to be sitting in a dark, smelly tent away from anyone she knew, covered in dirt and grime and tied to a post. She knew nothing about where she was or who she was with. All she had been told was that the man who had struck her was the Leader of the invading Telmarines and Price Caspian's uncle!

She had been there for more than a week now. Once a day a meagre meal of some strange sort of bread putty and water was brought to her and forced into her mouth. She saw nothing of her captor or of the outside base and she was going crazy with not doing anything!!

She was just about to drop off to sleep (which is very hard to do when you're frustrated and bored!) when someone stormed through the canvas door to her tent.

"So!" said the voice she had been dreading to hear, the leader of the Telmairnes! "So!" he repeated, "You are Sally the girl my nephew and his so-called friends are tearing the country apart looking for!" he sounded supremely satisfied with himself as he carried on, telling her how he wasn't supposed to know but that he had his "People" everywhere blah, blah, blah! All Sally was concerned with though, was the bit about Caspian and the rest tearing Narnia apart looking for her, because truth be told she had been beginning to think that they weren't looking for her at all!

Then she realised that he wasn't talking anymore, just looking at her with the smile a hungry wolf might get when placed with a delicious opportunity to capture his prey!

"Well, well, well it seems we have an opportunity for a trade, wouldn't you agree?" He chuckled to himself when she didn't answer, then he went down on his hunkers and began talking again.

"Ok, Ms Sally, here's what's going to happen; I am going to ask you a few questions and you are going to answer them, sound fair? Ok let's begin with a nice easy one!"

He turned and grabbed a stool from the corner of the tent and sat on it, smiling benevolently.

"Sally, where is Caspian and his little army?"

She didn't answer. His smile dropped a little.

"Hmm. Alright, where is their headquarters?"

Still no answer; he began to frown.

"Sally if you don't answer the next question things are going to get very ugly for you. Now what are their plans? Are they going to attack the main castle or continue in this cowardly "guerrilla" fighting?"

Sally stayed silent, a constant mantra running through her head: "Just keep quiet! They're coming! They'll rescue you! Just keep quiet! Don't tell him anything!" She didn't even hear his questions until he roared at her ;

"That's IT you insolent little bitch!" He walked over to the door and yanked it back, letting frigid air and rain into the tent (Sally hadn't even realised it had started to rain!) and yelling for someone called Santeirnan.

They came quickly in and Sally heard them being ordered to; "Do whatever it takes to get all the information out of her!"

She had no time to wonder what that could have meant though because no sooner had the canvas dropped back into place than the other person turned towards her and she saw a wrinkled old face, ugly as hell! A long crooked nose dominated the face but from behind it two ruby red eyes glowed and once Sally saw these; unimaginable pain filled her body and mind! Her very bones were on fire! Every single vein in her body had acid running through it and her brain was about to explode through her skull! She arched her back and screamed with all her might, trying to writhe away from the pain but no matter how she twisted and turned she couldn't escape it!

Then a cool, sweet voice, void of any pain or badness entered her mind like a fresh breeze, it whispered softly to her, coaxing and purring, telling her that it would all stop in just a few minutes! It was sooo easy to stop, the voice gave a tinkling laugh and whispered that all she had to do was think of where Caspian and the others were and all this would be over! It was so easy! She just had to be strong enough to do it!

But Sally refused because even in her pain-filled consciousness she could tell it was a trap. As soon as this thought crossed her mind an evil cackle filled her head that chilled her to her very core. Then the pain stopped and she lay panting and gasping uneven breaths, exhausted on the floor, her whole body trembling violently . She kept her eyes closed to prevent the tears from escaping. The hag leaned down to whisper in her ear; "Oh yes, I'm going to have lots of fun breaking you!" and with that she cackled and the pain began again.

The last lucid thought Sally had was praying with all her might that her friends would find her before the hag did indeed break her!

**Hey hope you liked it, I now it's a bit darker than the other ones but, I don't really know where this story is taking me!! :P Anyhu, I'd like to apologise for being so late updating but between work, school, homework, study and attempting to have some form of social life so that I don't go completely insane...the story got pushed to the wayside a little!! Sorry!!!!!!!! I will try to have the next chapter relatively soon!! :)**

**Please leave a review to tell us what you think!! And again I apologise!! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey sorry this took so long but I was swamped with work and school etcetera, etcetera. **

**So here's the next chapter. I've left it on a bit of a sudden ending but I hope ye like it! :) **

**Let me know what ye think!!**

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The days and weeks passed but for Sally they all blurred into a nothingness of pain and sadness. She heard nothing but bad news every other day or so when Caspian's uncle would see fit to come to her and tell her of the numbers of Old Narnians that were dying in this or that battle.

The old hag came frequently, much to Sally's despair and the hag's frustration; she had expected to be finished by now!

After that first day of pain and torture (when Sally had almost given in and told everything), she'd devised a plan to keep herself from spilling everything; instead of trying to ignore the pain or escape from it she would endure it, count how long it lasted and then give it a rating out of ten; One being not too bad and ten being very, very bad. Unfortunately though as the hag's frustration rose, so did the intensity of her 'Sessions'. Soon the numbers had risen from ten to twenty and then up to fifty. Sally thought it was perhaps a little morbid but it helped her to endure. She would just concentrate on the numbers until the pain ended. Of course she wasn't perfect and more than once she came very close to screaming out names, places and plans as the pain became unbearable!

However the hag had no intuition, she would just keep going until either she got bored or her victim would scream out what she wanted. Luckily for Sally, she didn't have much patience and usually gave up just before Sally did! On this particularly cold day Sally was actually asleep (no easy feat!) when the king came into her tent. At first he just stood there looking at her. He noticed that she was a lot thinner now; evidently she had lost a lot of weight while in his "care". A cruel smirk crossed his face as this thought crossed his mind. She was quite round and chubby when she had first come to him, her face had been round and happy, now it was tired and drawn, lines of pain and fear etched prematurely into her young skin.

"Shame" he found himself thinking, "She used to be passably pretty." But then he shook himself and walked over to where she was sleeping curled up into a ball. He then walked around behind her and kicked her viciously in the small of her back.

Sally woke with a strangled cry, arching her back away from whomever it was who had kicked her. Looking around with bleary eyes she took in the man standing tall with a mean glint in his black eyes and a cruel smirk on his cold face; the stuff of nightmares; her captor, Price Caspian's uncle and false King of Narnia.

Groaning, she sat up with difficulty and turned to face him.

"So, how are we feeling?" his voice slithered around her like a snake and she shuddered.

"Oh...I'm....fantastic." she replied sarcastically, shaking her head.

His eyes glittered as he replied; "Good, good! Glad to hear it. Now I hear you haven't been co-operating with my subject-"Sally snorted "-and I would like to ask you to rectify your behaviour or things could get_ very_ ugly for you." He continued.

_Things __**could **__get ugly_?! She thought in disbelief. _If it gets much uglier I won't be able to survive it._

He seemed to notice her disbelief and smirked at her. "Yes, things could very well get uglier."

Sally rolled her eyes and made to straighten herself on the ground but before she knew it the King had flung himself at her and now held her face in between his stinking hands. His foul breath filled her nostrils and his crazed black eyes were all she could see. His hands pinched her chin and he had pushed her over into an awkward position where she was lying on a leg that had previously been comfortably curled underneath her, and his weight was now crushing it. Her heart was hammering in fear and she didn't know what he was going to do next.

"Wh-what are you doing?" she gasped out, fear making her voice quaver.

He seemed to take fun out of her fear and grinned evilly at her, moving his hand slowly up to the side of her face. His eyes locked on hers and his head moved down to her face.

Sally felt her heart increase its frantic beating and as she tried to move her head away from his, she felt as though she would scream. _No! No! Oh God no! Please anything but this! Please stop him! I can't go through this! Please no!_ She started to cry.

Then just as his mouth reached hers; the shouts and roars of a battle filled the air as the thunder of many hooves and the calls of animals swarmed into the camp.

"What the hell?!" the King was up on his feet and at the flap to the tent in less than a second. He flung it open and through his legs Sally could see the beginnings of a battle going on in the clearing. Horses and riders, animals off all shapes and sizes, dwarfs, centaurs and fauns were chasing the King's men around the tents with weapons of all kinds. There were shrieks of fear from the men as they were taken by surprise. Some however had managed to grab a weapon and were beginning to fight back. Yet fight as they would the bodies of the dead and injured lay throughout the clearing.

"Damn it!" The King swore and pulled back the flap. He was breathing heavily, one hand on his hip, the other rubbing his chin and jaw in an angry, worried way and Sally was filled with fear. His nervous energy filled the little tent and she felt as though it would explode. But she sat there as small and as quiet as she could be, hoping he would forget about her. Sadly, he didn't.

Suddenly he stopped pacing and looked at her with a new intensity, his eyes burning holes through her skull.

"Yes, that's it." He said softly. And with that he strode over to her and pulled something out of his pocket. He got down on his knees and pulled her up to him. Sally thought he was going to take her there even with the battle going on, as a sort of last go before he died. But no, he just pulled the stopper out of a little vial and brought it up to her face.

"See this." He said viciously, "This is a poison I had designed especially for you! Aren't you lucky! Now you are going to take it and we'll see what happens!"

Sally felt horror flood though her, her eyes widened and she clamped her lips tightly together.

But he just laughed softly. "Listen, I can put this in your mouth or I can force it elsewhere, it won't make it one bit of difference to me, I have my sword here and I'm probably safer in here than anywhere else at the moment so I can put it....anywhere I like..." H e looked suggestively at her and Sally clamped her legs tighter together, opening her mouth slightly; tears pouring down her dirty face.

"Good girl." He whispered evilly, raising the vial.

Sally couldn't watch. She closed her eyes, sure her heart was going to fly out of her chest and that her stomach would liquefy with the amount of churning it was doing. She felt the glass vial being shoved between her lips and the liquid being poured down her throat. Then it was pulled away and with a sob Sally forced herself to swallow the poison.

It left a sour after-taste and she coughed and gagged at it. The King was standing up and at the flap already.

Sally was trying to get air to her lungs, the sourness completely overpowering anything else and forming a sort of blanket around her lungs. She gasped and heaved but just ended up choking. She was aware of her heart doing nineteen to the dozen, her ears were ringing, sweat was pouring off of her, her eyes were bulging and felt as though they were fit to burst in her skull. Her head was pounding from the lack of oxygen and black spots filled her vision. She knew she was going unconscious and felt tears pouring down her face, although whether they were from pain, lack of oxygen or the possibility of imminent death, she wasn't sure. All she could focus on was one desperate thought; _why didn't you come for me?_

**So what's the verdict?**

**Good? Bad? Indifferent? Whichever one it is please let me know! I'm really trying to get the next chapter up so hang in there with me....that is if anyone is left!!**

**Drop me a line and let me know if you'd like to see anything in particular happen and I'll see what I can do!! :)**


	10. Chapter 10

_**Hey, oh my God I'm soooo sorry for the incredible wait and I have no more excuses!! :(**_

_**I hope you will accept the apology though as I now have the next two chapters up for you!! :D**_

_**So please go ahead and enjoy!! Feedback would be great too!! Please review!! :)**_

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The unconscious Sally lay in a pathetic heap in the centre of her small tent. The mop of hair that covered her face had long ago lost its lustre and was now a bedraggled, greasy mop that fell in clumps like rats tails. Her once round, happy face was now grey from hunger, stress and immense pain. Her eyes were lined prematurely with deep purple bags like day old bruises underlying them.

The clothes she was wearing had been reduced to nothing more than rags that barely covered her now thin frame. Where once she had been full and round of figure without being fat, she was now thin and haggard looking; as though she had lived through a lifetime of stress and hardship, when in reality she had only been a prisoner for just over a month.

It was this sad figure that was revealed as a warrior bearing a mighty sword and shield, ripped open the flap with a cry to still the blood of even the coldest hearted villains. Upon seeing the tent empty of an enemy the warrior took in the scene of the young girl in front of him.

A look of horror crossed his young, handsome face as tears began to fill his eyes. In almost one fluid motion; with complete disregard for his own safety (even in a time of such dire circumstances), he threw down his sword and shield as he flung himself on the ground to be beside the young girl.

"No, no, no, no, no..." he murmured to himself in desperation as he knelt beside her. He put his hands out to her face and pulled the limp hair away from her. Looking down into the grey, cold face that, even unconscious; was full of pain. He felt an immense sadness overwhelm him that he hadn't been able to stop this. When he attempted to lift her up, he felt the bones of her spine move under her skin and he knew that he could not do it alone; that he would need someone else with perhaps more medical training than he to move her.

So, filled with regret and anger Edmund put his surrogate sister back down. He lovingly and carefully arranged her into a more comfortable position and with a whispered promise to be back as soon as he possibly could be, he covered her freezing body in a raggedy blanket and left.

With a sense of panic quickly consuming him Edmund ran. He ran for fear of leaving Sally again in case someone should take her again before he could get back to her. He ran because he had finally found her! Finally! After weeks of searching with not a hint of her whereabouts he had finally found her!

He ran because he was being pursued by soldiers of the enemy! But they were no match for him, not now when he was as fired up with anger and panic as he was. Turning and yelling directly into their oncoming faces he ran right to them and with a quick thrust of the sword had one gasping on the end of it, eyes bulging, mouth dribbling blood. A quick jerk, a spray of blood and the sword was free. In one fierce action, bellowing; he swung it straight at the hands of the next one and the hands fell away with the sword. The man collapsed screaming in horror and agony as his life's blood drenched the soft earth, turning it into a slippery, red mess. In a furious sequence of movements Edmund flew through his attackers; hacking, thrusting and defending. However he was so involved in the fights that he almost attacked his sister Susan.

"Ed! WAH! It's me you bloody-!"

"Sue! I found her! I found Sally!" Edmund grabbed her hand interrupting her with his urgent message.

Susan's eyes widened in disbelief at his statement and the manic light in his eyes; "Where?" she asked.

"Come with me! I'll show you!" Pulling her along behind him Edmund ran again back the way he had come, trampling the bodies of the dead that lay in his way.

Arriving at the tent he was so desperate to see that she was still there, that he dropped Susan's hand and sprinted to the tent anxiously flinging the flap open. She was still there in the same position he had left her and he felt unjustly relieved. Susan arrived behind him then and pushed him aside to get inside.

Her horrified cry as she took in the condition of her truest friend was like a spear through Edmund's stomach, but it brought him to reality. Dropping the fabric of the tent that served as the entrance he strode into the heart of the little room. Susan looked up at him with tears running from her haunted, terrified eyes.

"Oh my God Edmund! How could we let this happen to her! We have to save her!" Looking back at the prone form of their friend, Susan put a hand out to stroke her forehead.

"What did they do to you? You poor thing. But you're safe now, we're going to get you out of here." was her promised whisper.

She dried her streaming eyes and looked up at her brother. "How are we to get her out?"

"I'm not really sure, but the less people that know the less of a distraction we'll be so I think we should just try to sneak her out, just the two of us. When we get to the camp we can sound the horns for our army to retreat. We're going to need our best medics for her."

"Ok, hand me that other blanket there. Thanks, I'm going to wrap her in these two and I'll carry her out." Susan now had an objective and a plan so she was much more decisive and her voice was full of that older-sibling authority.

Even so Edmund objected; "I think I should carry her out; I'm stronger that you are."

Exhaling heavily as she stood, Susan put her hands on her hips and looked her younger brother in the eye; "Yes I know you are stronger, there is no need to rub it in, but you are also the better swordsman, I'm excellent with a bow and arrow, but you excel with the sword, therefore would it not be a better strategy for me to carry her and you to keep your hands free to defend us. Or have you forgotten that we are in the middle of a battle?!" as if to give her argument more weight the cacophony of battle sounds reached a crescendo, as it neared their little tent.

"Ok," Edmund, seeing the practicality and rationality that was _always_ present in her arguments gave in and picked up his sword.

"Here, take mine as well, you might need it and I won't be able to give it to you later." Susan also handed him her sword from where she had returned it to its scabbard. Edmund just nodded as he took it and Susan bent down to pick up Sally.

"Oh good God!" she exclaimed, "I feel as though I can feel every bone in her body!" she fought back the tears that threatened to engulf her and took a step forwards.

"Ok, go!" she nodded at Edmund to leave.

And so they began their arduous journey to the safety of their camp.

Carefully Edmund pulled back the fabric of the entrance and made sure that no one was near enough to cause immediate damage to their rescue mission. He beckoned to Susan to come with him. Now that they had Sally with them in such a fragile state, they couldn't just hack their way through, no; it was all about stealth now.

Slowly they crept and stole their way around two tents without a challenge, but their luck wasn't to last forever. A shout went up among the enemy and Edmund and Susan looked behind them in horror; between five and eight enemy soldiers were running full speed towards them! Susan looked at her brother in horror.

"Go!" he said not even looking at her, his face a grim mask, his teeth bared in preparation for the coming fight. But she just stood there, unable to choose between the unconscious girl in her arms and her youngest brother and tears once again threatened to fall.

_**So what'd you think?? I hope you enjoyed it!!**_

_**Please feel free to drop a review!! :D**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**Ok, so here's the next chapter!! I hope you enjoy it and tell me what you think!! :D**_

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Edmund turned and roared at her; "GO! NOW! Run! GO!" she was so startled by the ferocity in his face and voice that she just turned and did as she was told; she ran; she ran hard and fast to the relative protection of the forest. As dearly as she wanted to look back, she knew she couldn't because it would only slow her down further. More tears fell from her eyes in fear for her beloved brother, because she knew that even Edmund (who is legendary for coming out of difficult situations against the odds) would have extreme problems surviving against so many. She tried to run even faster, against her burning lungs, tiring legs and aching arms.

Miraculously she reached the cover of the forest, once there she turned around to check that she wasn't being followed. Her eyes fell on a furious knot of people fighting. Swords were flashing; blood was spraying everywhere and in the very heart of it was her own brother Edmund. He was magnificent; his sword was a blur of death as he whirled around, fountains of red liquid following him, as though he were in some gruesome cabaret. Susan stood transfixed by the grisly dance before her. The enemy just couldn't touch him, it was as though he were magical; dipping, doding, swirling, killing, falling...wait, falling!? Susan did a double take as Edmund finally succumbed to the superior numbers of the enemy. He disappeared in a mass of blood and enemy swords.

"NO! EDMUND!" the terrified scream had ripped out of her chest before she could help it. Quickly she put Sally on the forest floor and pulled out her bow while reaching for an arrow from her quiver. With shaking hands she strung and drew her bow, quickly targeting and letting fly her arrow, hardly waiting to see with a sort of panicked satisfaction that an attacker fell, with a jet of crimson blood exploding from his head. No sooner had this happened than she let loose another and another and another until others left alive were running for cover from this invisible archer.

Now that they were gone Susan watched the still form of her brother. Her breath was coming in panicked, rasping gasps and she was unable to move; terrified that she had been too late. But then her eager eyes picked up a movement; Edmund was stirring! He pulled his arms under himself and rose up on them, shaking his head to clear it. He put a hand on his knee to support himself as he got up, but suddenly he bent backwards with a pained cry, over a gash in the back of his thigh. However he didn't pay much attention to his injury as he looked up to the woods and saw Susan standing with her bow at the ready just in case. Knowing that she had made it filled him with relief and he began to make his slow, painful way over to her; limping heavily because of his leg.

Once he reached the trees Susan pulled him into a fierce hug; practically bawling with fear and relief and the sheer stress of the day!

"Oh Edmund!" she wailed, "I was so scared! I was sure I was too late and that you'd been...that you were...that they'd..." unable to finish her sentence she just shook her head and squeezed him tighter.

Now, Edmund had barely been able to stand her python's hold on him before but when she increased it to superhuman, he had to speak up...or at least try to...

"...Sue...Sue!...Air!!.." he gasped at her, trying to breathe and discovering that yes, it was extremely hard to talk without air!

"What?...Oh! Sorry Ed!" she quickly released him as she realised what he was trying to tell her. "I'm just so relieved!"

"Yes well don't be. We still have to get back to the camp remember. Where's Sally?" rubbing his throat Edmund looked around and couldn't see her anywhere; he started to panic.

"Oh I put her down over here, out of the way." Susan led him back to her and bent down to pick her up once more. "Are you ok to keep going?" her voice was full of concern for Edmund who had trouble just walking, but he took one look at the girl in his sister's arms and was filled with a gritty determination. He nodded, teeth jammed against the burning pain in his leg.

They walked slowly but _very_ carefully back to their camp. All the way back their ears were pricked, so that they heard and jumped at every little crack of the twigs underneath their own feet! The increased strain on their ears made them extremely tense and Susan felt like a length of tightly coiled wire, which was only added to by the worry caused by the laboured breathing behind her from Edmund. Every now and then she would look behind her and each time she did Edmund looked greyer and was farther behind her, but she knew that he wouldn't accept what he would perceive as pity, so she just kept on going, knowing also that the sooner she got Sally to the camp the sooner she could help Edmund.

All of a sudden, there it was! The colourful tents of gold and scarlet with their proud flags flying defiantly in the breeze; just the sight of them inspired her and gave her the courage and relief to push her flagging body further. With one last look at Edmund plodding along behind her, Susan pushed herself forwards; her legs, arms, lungs and pounding heart screaming at her to stop and rest. But resisting the physical weakness, her bossy spirit forced her exhausted body onwards.

On entering the camp she called out for help, well as much as she could; taking into account the gasping and her tired lungs.

"Help! We need help!" she gasped.

One of the first to reply was her youngest sibling and dearest sister Lucy. During their time here before; Lucy had become the head healer, doctor, physician whichever name you choose. She had years of experience with battle wounds, broken bones and any type of magical malady you can think of.

"Lucy! Thank God! We found Sally! But she's in bad shape! Ed had to defend us to give me time to run with her but he got injured badly too and is somewhere behind me! Quick we need as many as possible and we need to sound the retreat!"

Lucy took this all into account and though she gasped when she saw Sally she took it all in her stride and began to issue orders. "Ok, Susan, take Sally to the medic's tent over there. I'll send someone to go for Edmund. Shog, go sound the horn for retreat! Now!" The little faun snapped to attention and then ran off to the huge horn that would tell the others to come home.

Lucy was just about to send someone to look for Edmund when bloodcurdling screams of terror split the still air.

Lucy felt her heart almost stop with the shock of it and then Susan was running towards her terror in her eyes.

"Lucy we need our best people! I don't know what happened but she's just screaming and thrashing about! She won't let anyone touch her and if we do she screams again! The really scary thing is; I don't even think she's awake!"

Things were not going well and the future path was not going to be easy...

_**So how was it?? I'd really appreciate it if you'd tell me what you think!! :)**_


	12. Chapter 12

Hey all sorry about the delay with this chapter but as I was asked for a longer chapter I decided to make it REALLY long!!! :P

Of course it was all fine until I got halfway, then it began to be something akin to pulling teeth!!

But how and ever it's here now and I hope you enjoy the extra mad length. :)

Don't forget to leave a review at the end!!!

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The two sisters stared at each other in silent understanding; knowing no words were needed for the severity and terror of the situation.

Then a bloodcurdling scream ripped through the still air, bringing them harshly back to a horrible reality and they ran towards the medic's tent, unsure if their hearts were beating so hard and fast from the fear or the exertion. As they were running another sound pounded through the ironically sweet and fresh forest air; the sound of the war horns being blown to signal the retreat to the armies. The sound waves pulsed through the air, giving it a curious vibration that the girls drew into their lungs. Its deep baritone blast made the ground tremble and the leaves fall from their trees.

When they arrived at the tent they saw that Edmund had been deposited there by some unknown soldier. His face was lined with obvious pain and was white and grim. An angry fire was burning in his eyes.

"Ed? Oh good Lord what happened to you? Are you alright? Why aren't you in seeing the medics?" Lucy's rapid fire questions were barely heard and her sweet child's voice sounded fragile and vulnerable after the deafening boom that was the war horn.

Edmund turned to look at her slowly and said quietly, teeth gritted; "They won't let us in to be treated and they won't let us even see her."

"What? Why?" Lucy's confusion was evident as she frowned while walking to her brother to take a look at his leg.

"Don't know, they-"he broke off with a gasp and a pained grimace as Lucy prodded the tender, ripped flesh of his thigh, "-they wouldn't say." he finished.

"Hmmph!" Susan made an indignant sound that she still managed to make authoritive and she stretched out her hand to pull back the swath of fabric that was the entrance to the tent. When she pulled it back at first she could see nothing; it was too dark, there were too many people in the one area and it was so hot! As her eyes became used to the blackness, they moved and she saw...oh, she saw!

There was Sally lying on a wooden table; her wrists and ankles were bound to the sides, her arms and legs were thin and bony and she lay as if dead. Susan brought her hand to her mouth and was about to head into the little room when Sally started to move. Her face turned towards Susan and Susan almost burst into tears right there! Sally was an emaciated ghost of her former self; her cheekbones stood out in high relief, her hair was falling in lank, greasy locks over her forehead, there were lines around her closed, sleeping eyes and her face just oozed pain, suffering, hunger...

No sooner had Susan got a glimpse of this face than it began to frown and slowly turn away from her. The back arched and twisted to the side. Knees were bent and her friend, her sister Sally began to thrash and moan, to twist and turn as a heart wrenching scream of agony tore itself out of her hoarse throat. Quickly the physicians were back around her shouting and trying in vain to keep her still.

Unable to watch anymore, Susan dropped the material that was knotted so tightly into her strong fist that she was in danger of tearing a hole in it. Hand to her mouth, she dropped the curtain in horror, tears swimming in her eyes. "What? What is it?" Lucy's worried voice pierced through the horror and she looked slowly at her younger sister, knowing that Lucy wouldn't be able to handle it.

Lucy let out a small sob as the distraught look of horror in her sister's eyes told her the worst. She tried to speak but there seemed to be a huge lump of some sort lodged in her throat somewhere and she just couldn't! So sobbing, Lucy flung her arms around Susan's waist.

Susan tried to gather herself and hold back the wave of despair but it was very hard; she gulped to get fresh air into her starved lungs and stumbled away into the light, beckoning for her siblings to follow. Lucy rushed after her immediately and Edmund, overcome by his worry and admittedly by his curiosity, hobbled after her too.

The only thought on Susan's mind was to get her siblings away from that tent before Sally could start to scream again.

A horrible moaning started up from the tent and vague mutterings the sounded like "No, no, nonononono" and what may have been a name. Edmund immediately stopped and turned to head back, determined this time to help, but Susan, knowing him too well called him back; "Edmund! No, I-I n-need you!" and then she said one word, one name that she knew would stop him in his tracks; "Peter."

Her voice was full of concern, it was soft but weary and saturated with dread. She was right; he stood stock still for seconds. Edmund knew then that his sister was right; she did need him! Peter was not going to take this well. At all. His sisters would need him because despite the difference in height and age Edmund was well his brother's match for strength and far better with a-No! He wouldn't allow himself to go down that road! It wouldn't happen...he hoped....So resignedly turning to face Susan he nodded and set towards her.

Lucy had been watching the exchange between her older siblings with apprehension for although she was young in years now, she hadn't always been and she had seen Peter when someone close to him was hurt or in danger and Sally was both! It could get violent! She was not looking forward to this...

Susan took a deep, cleansing breath; "Come on, let's go find Peter." And turning, she headed towards the southern end of the camp. As Peter's troops had been sent to the Northern end of the enemy base they would be entering through the southern end of their own camp.

When they got there they saw that the troops were already there but there was no sign of the High King moving among them offering comfort or congratulations.

"Do you see him?" Lucy was craning her neck to try to see.

"No." Susan and Edmund were not having any better luck and were also craning their necks to look around.

They were still looking around when a centaur came up to them. He was wearing damaged battle armour and a very sombre expression.

"My King, my Queens." He bowed deeply and respectfully. Lucy noticed that he had a huge gash running along his human ribs that would make bowing of any kind very hard and she felt an instant respect and liking towards him for being so brave and being able to hide his discomfort so well. She then noticed a long splintered cut on his right foreleg and an arrow shaft sticking out of his rump that his tail kept swishing at in agitation. An instant flood of pity overwhelmed her and she began to move to take it out when he continued to speak; "Your Majesties, I'm so sorry. We don't know what happened to the High King. I told him to stay by me as we fought, as you instructed me, but no sooner had the charge sounded than he was gone! He thundered away ahead of us all, sword flying left and right with many falling before him. But this was the last I saw of him, he directed his horse around the tents and no one followed him as we were all fighting. He hasn't returned with the troops and at the moment I fear it would be too dangerous to send a squadron to look for him. I am so sorry, I have failed you and the High King." He hung his head and stayed quiet.

Lucy had frozen where she was, the shock and fear immobilising her in a case of ice that the White Witch would have been proud of!

High King Peter was well known for his dangerous escapades in war and for getting himself into the most horrendous of scrapes in battle – although he was equally famous for them outside of the battles as well – but he had never, not come back with the troops! A wave of emotion hit the three remaining siblings all at once.

Tears were rolling down Susan's face as one hand went around her waist and one to her mouth; "It's too much!" she thought in despair, "Too much! I can't take it! First Sally now Peter! Aslan what have you done to us?!!" her despair turned to anger at the great pious Lion who claimed to have a plan for everything! Well what then was this fabulous plan that killed her elder brother and left a dearly beloved friend in such a terrifying and heart wrenching state? Where could the justice possibly be in that?! Huge sobs stared to wrench their way out of her chest as she scrunched her eyes closed to hide from it all.

Edmund stood stock still, as though petrified. His face was tensely devoid of emotion but for the muscle jumping in his taut jaw and the line of unshed tears in his brown eyes. His fists were clenching and unclenching at his side and his breathing was forced and heavy in an attempt to keep himself from crying or more accurately, bawling, at the loss of his only brother.

Lucy attempted to stay in control like her big brother but as she was the youngest she couldn't. She started to cry and shout out his name; refusing to believe it could have happened! "Peter! Peter!" his name was flung from her throat as though by shouting loudly and desperately enough she could bring him back. She ran from Susan and Edmund yelling and crying. No one stopped her, although Edmund tried to call her back and Susan reached out after her, the troops just stood there, averted their eyes and kept their heads down. They were embarrassed and scared by the amount of emotion spilling unbridled from their fearless leaders.

Edmund tried to pull himself together, after all if this news was true he was now the High King of Narnia, well, other than Caspian...Caspian! He wouldn't know yet! He had been sent with the Eastern troops and they were only just coming in.

"I should go...tell Caspian..." He managed to force the words out through his clenched teeth desperately wanting someone to say: "No no it's ok I'll do it. It's ok." But there was no one, well there were his sisters, but Edmund highly doubted that anyone would understand them at this point, but to tell Caspian would be to say it out loud and make it real. He couldn't do that! To look at him he seemed weighted down and lost, as though he had just aged well beyond his years in a very short space of time; which in a way, he had.

Lucy returned to them then and buried herself in Susan's arms, who in turn clutched her tightly. Edmund look on sadly, immobilised by the shock and growing pain that coursed through his battle damaged body.

So involved was everyone in themselves and in ignoring the pain of the old King and Queens that they almost missed the Horse trotting lazily into their camp, along with the body that flopped precariously on its neck. It was a pained Snow Leopard who was looking anywhere but at the little family that noticed the Horse. He walked over to her to see what the trouble was and it was then that he saw not only was the rider injured but the Horse also. She was not trotting slowly because she was lazy but because she was bleeding heavily from a deep slash in her belly, she was breathing very heavily.

"What happened?" he asked in a panicked sort of tone, "Are you alright? No, of course you're not!" he answered himself, admonishing; "Stupid question!"

"We got separated ....at the beginning....he was so eager....and angry....many fell....more came....no room....trapped....horns....no chance...." she gasped out their story in as few words as possible and it was then that the Leopard looked at her passenger. It was High King Peter....

His face was bloodless and white, a long slice cut across the top of his head that was bleeding all over his pale face and his armour was falling off him, cut to ribbons. There was blood everywhere.

"For the love of Aslan..." the Leopard breathed. Then he got over the shock and into soldier mode, although it was hard for a predator like him to resist the easy prey; he told the Mare to keep moving and that he would be back with help in no time.

Sprinting as fast as he could back over to the little bereaved family he quickly told them what had happened and that they were going to need lots of medical help.

"Quick!" Edmund yelled getting into the action. "Set up that tent to receive Peter and the Mare!" he felt ashamed that he didn't even know her name.

In the flurry of activity that followed the Leopard's discovery Susan, Lucy and Edmund hardly had a moment to think on what had caused such an horrendous thing to happen! After all, Peter was the champion of many one- on-one battles and even many solo against group tournaments. So what had made the difference in this battle? And perhaps more importantly; did it have anything to do with Sally and her mysterious illness?

The tent was set up to receive its two patients with Lucy supervising the medical team; a wise eagle, a clever faun and a delicate fairy.

The stretchers were brought in carrying the two bloodied bodies. Peter came in just ahead of his partner. He was breathing shallowly and his face was grey underneath the smudges of blood, sweat and earth. His arm had been severely sliced and a rather large cut led from his shoulder to his wrist. The armour that covered his chest fortunately seemed to have protected him although it was very badly damaged; one of the shoulder straps had been cut off completely so that the breastplate hung lopsided on him, it bore the damage of many repeated thrusts and slices from large broadswords with numerous dents and scrapes in the tarnished metal. His hands, head and calves had been protected with chainmail gloves, a helmet and metal greaves. However his thighs had only been protected as far as the greaves would reach and the chain-mail undershirt stretch, so a good portion in between had been left unprotected and as a result they were shredded, covered in too many cuts to count. He was covered in blood and looked close to death and his partner was no better.

Inside the tent Edmund, Susan and Lucy looked on in horror at the sight of their brother in such a state; it had never been so bad in all of the 'Golden Age'.

Once he was set down on the low table the eagle was in the air and hovering over him with one powerful, downwards sweep of her magnificent wings. With her keen, intelligent eyes she gave Peter a very good looking-over, she spent many minutes just hovering over him, her golden eyes flickering up and down. At last she stopped and floated down onto her special perch.

"It is my surmise," she said in her curiously deep, yet squawking voice as her head twitched from side to side and she fixed every individual with an alternate eye "that High King Peter of the Golden Age has been grievously injured but that a percentage of this blood is indeed not of human origin. Therefore it would follow that, should we clean him up; he would not be in such danger as is apparent at this moment."

A confused, cautious relief stole through the tent following her words. No one had quite understood all of her speech but they had understood that the situation may not be as bad as it looked.

"So...what? Peter is going to be ok?" asked Edmund hesitantly.

"There is reason enough to believe so, indeed." replied the eagle.

At this everyone let out a huge sigh of relief and allowed a smile to grace their faces before they turned to the brave mare who had brought Peter back to them. Only when they did, they noticed the fairy had left them to be beside the mare herself. She was looking mournfully at her, her tiny, delicate fairy hands stroking the large head.

Slowly smiles disappeared off faces and breath was stolen from the little gathering. There was a steadily growing pool of blood gathering under her chest.

"She is gone." said the fairy mournfully. "She who could run like the wind, leap like a dear and move as a shadow is gone." A single pure tear rolled down the fairy's tiny delicate face as she shook her head softly and continued to stroke the Shadow Horse's face. "She told me to tell you that it was because of her that High King Peter had been so badly hurt. She gave me her account of the battle."

"What? When did this happen? I heard no one else talking!" Susan exclaimed.

"Yes, well that is why I am on this medical team, I can do small delicate jobs that no one else can." She replied kindly.

"Oh. That does make sense. I apologise, please do go on."

The fairy inclined her head and began the re-telling of the Shadow Horse's story.

"_Once the horns sounded Peter had yelled for me to go; to run. Now I do not really make a practice of letting humans ride on my back, for it is unbecoming for an intelligent talking horse, but I liked Peter; he was always kind and paid the proper respect due to someone of my station and so I allowed him passage through the battle as my partner._

_Once we had started I asked him would it not be better for us to stay with the rest of our mingled herd. But he just replied no; he had to find something - I cannot remember precisely what it was, although I do know that it was of great importance to him. Then we reached the enemy and there was no time for talk. I leapt in among them yelling and neighing ferociously and many ran from us in fear. As we thundered around their spiky tent homesteads we came across a group who had had time to arm themselves and were looking for a fight. We were completely out-numbered but Peter was brave and foolhardy, it was almost as though he wanted to punish or prove himself._

_He fought valiantly, a real credit to you and we had them almost beaten a couple of times, that is until they recruited more to their cause. We fought; hooves and teeth, sword and fists flying in all directions but it was a losing battle; I was stabbed in the stomach and the pain, oh the pain! I was just unable to protect him with my hooves from enemies he couldn't see, I couldn't fight properly anymore. _

_He was most concerned for me and was so distracted for the couple of seconds that he let his guard down and they sliced his arm open from the shoulder to the wrist. I believe he fell into unconsciousness from the pain of it. But for the first time something then went right for us, the horns sounded for us to return!_

_Our enemies were distracted for just a few moments but it allowed me time and courage to plough through them and to gallop a bit of the way to our moving homes. The High King was still unconscious on my back and the fear that I may be carrying a dead person on my back was a horrible stimulant, as it was terrifying. I somehow managed to labour back but was at the last reserves of strength, fear and emotion. I was ill and weak but I had made it for Peter, my partner who is good and brave, if foolish._

_That is our story, I have told it to you with my last breath and you must make sure he lives._

The fairy had spoken as Shadow herself would have or as though she were replaying a memory. A stunned silence followed this story and filled the little tent. The atmosphere was eerie and tense; you would've heard a pin drop.

"But...But...." Susan started but was so confused she had to stop and try again. "But how did you have enough time for her to tell you this story? She was only here for a very short while!" This time she had successfully completed her thought.

"Queen Susan I am a fairy, I cannot tell you all of our secrets. Suffice it to say that I have special talents in communicating!" the enigmatic fairy replied kindly, albeit with a hit of annoyance.

Susan flushed and nodded, understanding that she had gone too far. She was saved further embarrassment however as Peter started to moan loudly. At once all attention was diverted to him as he began to move around. His eyelids fluttered and he mumbled what sounded something like; "WeramI?"

"Peter. You're in the medic's tent. Do you remember anything that happened?" Lucy spoke softly and carefully to him, well used to the proper bedside manner for people just surfacing from unconsciousness.

"No." He sighed, head tossing in agitation. "Wait...Yes. There was a noise...thunder. No! A horn...pain, lots of pain....my arm!" he moved to look at it but was stopped by Edmund who said; "Yes, and what else Peter?"

Peter twisted and turned, as though to get away and Susan was about to jump in and say enough was enough when suddenly he flew upright, his eyes round as coins; "Sally!"

Susan and Edmund each put a hand on his shoulders and tried to make him lie back down.

"Peter, it-"

"No! I have to find her! I have to-"

"Peter it's all right! We have her! She's safe!" Lucy squeezed in between her older brother and sister to get to him and he locked onto her eyes immediately.

"You do?! Really? Where?!" His eyes were wide and crazy and they had a fanatic sort of light shining sickly in them. It made Lucy want to shrink away from him.

"She's in the medic's tent on the far side of camp."

There was a split second where Peter seemed to relax and Edmund and Susan in turn relaxed their holds on him, but the he came violently to life and sprang up and off the low table on which he had been placed.

"Peter! No wait!" Susan called after him in fear and horror. He couldn't see Sally in such a state! He simply couldn't!

As he made for the door Edmund reached out a long arm and managed to grab a wrist. Unfortunately; it was his injured wrist... Peter screamed out in agony and crumpled to the floor unashamedly sobbing in pain and clutching his now freely bleeding wrist.

"Oh no!" Edmund's face went ghastly white as he looked in horror at what he had unintentionally done and at the blood that now covered his hand.

The faun ran over to Peter and managed (somehow!) to pick him up and then brought him back to the table where he placed him again, sill wailing in pain.

"Peter I'm so sorry....I....I didn't mean...I...." Edmund whispered, horrified, staring at his brother's blood coating his hand.

"Tis alright King Edmund. I'll patch'm up 'ere now 'n' it'll all be good agin." The faun spoke with an odd accent as he pottered around looking for bandages and swabs, needles and stitches and a couple of very oddly coloured and smelling creams!

"What are you doing?" Susan demanded, her voice shaking with suppressed emotion. "Why aren't you using Lucy's flower cordial?"

"T'eh oders 'av it fer Miss Sally. On'y Im not sure it'll be workin' fer t'em!" he replied as he laid out all his supplies. "But don' choo worry Queen, I'm will practiced 'n' I'll git young King Peter up 'n' about'n no tim' t'all!" He looked at her reassuringly and patted her hand.

Susan wasn't so confident in him. However he was right! With the help of the fairy's delicate fingers and his own considerable skill they had Peter patched and wrapped up all ready to go in only a few minutes. Then Peter closed his eyes and breathed a deep sigh, he seemed much calmer now and much better after being treated.

Just as his family were leaving under the assumption that he was asleep, Peter sat up painfully, now fully aware of the extent and true pain of his injuries. He gasped and winced as he moved.

"I need to see her." He said firmly but quietly, looking all his siblings in the eye. Susan paled and glanced nervously at Edmund who hesitated and looked back at her, uncertain. Lucy stood nervously between them not wanting a fight but dreading Peter's reaction. Although he was is such horrendous pain Peter was clear-headed enough to see all these glances and to notice the hesitations. He knew that something was horribly wrong...

He got off of the table and made his way slowly over to them. His walk was stiff and he carried himself as though he was unsure of how to balance his weight or if his body would support him.

"What? What can be so bad?" Although his body was moving tentatively his voice was calm, strong and sure and full of a quiet authority.

"Peter, Sally...well, she's..."Susan sighed, "It's very difficult to tell you this Peter, but-"

"You said she was _safe_! Now what is wrong?" his voice had risen in volume and both anger and fear were creeping into it.

"She is safe Peter, she's just not...in the...best of health at the moment..." Susan replied haltingly, not sure of how much she could tell him without him flying off the handle so to speak.

"Oh. Well I had expected nothing else to be honest. I would have been very doubtful of the Telmarine hospitality to prisoners." He seemed relieved and the beginning of a smile began to grace his lips. Susan completely deflated at this positive answer; he wasn't supposed to react like this!

It'll only make it worse! Now he would think that she was only a little rough around the edges, not in the condition that she's in! I have to make him understand! She thought desperately.

"No, Peter. I'm afraid it's worse than that, " she got stuck and tried to gather her thoughts.

"What is it Sue?" His voice had turned cautious and wary, Susan took a deep breath.

"Peter Sally is a ghost of her normal self. When I was carrying her back to safety I could feel all the banes in her back under my hands and I could see all the other bones that I could not feel. She is nothing but skin and bone. She was horribly starved while imprisoned in their camp. I'm afraid it gets worse. She now suffers from...fits, or nightmares. It's terrifying. She screams out in agony for no apparent reason and it goes on and on like an unending torture Peter, it would break your heart. We have all of our best physicians working on her and they have Lucy's flower cordial...but it's had no effect, no matter how much they have used." She stopped and dared to look at him directly, but regretted it instantly; his face was turning an odd, very ugly colour from anger, his eyes were blazing an icy blue fire, his nostrils were wide and flared and he was breathing heavily through them. His mouth was one white, taught line and his entire body was rigid, save for the fists clenching and unclenching dangerously at his sides.

He attempted to take a deep breath to calm himself, but ended up taking a rather undignified gulp of air-like a fish!

"I still want to see her."

"Peter, I have to agree with Susan, I don't think-"

"I need to see her Ed!" and with that he strode (or attempted to, it looked more like a hobble) out of the tent and in the direction that he remembered Lucy saying that Sally lay in her own tent.

The others turned and shared a despondent look, knowing that there would be no talking with him in this mood and then they turned to follow him, knowing that all they could do was be there for him when he saw her and try to help him through whatever his reaction was; violence or depression.

It took them much longer to reach the tent than it had before because of Peter and his injuries, although he was walking as fast as he could. As they neared the tent that held the fifth, surrogate Pevensie, they began to hear muffled screams. Susan's heart started to thump quickly in anticipation, butterflies filled Lucy's stomach and Edmund felt a horrible dread seep through right into his very bones.

Peter walked ahead of them, seemingly impassive.

Hope you enjoyed!!! Leave a review please!?! :)


	13. Chapter 13

Four sets of pounding hearts, puffing lungs and nervous stomachs made their way across the huge camp. On reaching the section where Sally lay in her tent they found the surrounding area curiously empty. Almost, one could say, deserted...

Their pace slowed as they came within sight and sound of the little tent. Odd sounds were issuing from it and none of them really wanted to find out what it was, for fear that they wouldn't like it and knowledge that their fear would be realised.

They stopped for a moment and Susan looked up at Peter. He was standing stock still, a muscle jumping in his jaw which was taught with tension. She made to put out a hand on his arm in reassurance.

"Peter it's all right, you don't have to go in there. We'll all understand."

Peter's head twisted sharply in her direction and he glared down at her, anger visible in every line of his face. "I have to go in there Susan! How could you say that? She's my best friend! I can't just leave her there on her own!" with that he started off again leaving his stunned siblings behind him.

As he walked Peter was filled with unease and an uncertainty that he had not wanted the rest of his family to know he felt. _What if she blames me for all of this?_ Then;_ Hold on Peter, this is your fault, you blame you of course she will too! Oh, I just hope she can forgive me and let me explain! I don't think I could stand not having her around anymore! These last two weeks have been agony!_ He nervously worried at his bottom lip as his stomach told him that he may soon be seeing the contents of his breakfast once more...

He had reached the tent. There were strange noises that he was not used to hearing in association with illness' or war wounds. A low moaning (usual enough) but the strange thing was a low guttural muttering or chanting. It wove its way through and around the moaning, as though to contain it. But it wasn't working. The moaning got louder.

Taking a deep breath Peter attempted to squash the instinct that told him to run because he knew there was something evil inside. Instead he pictured Sally's happy round face, her grey-green eyes shining up at him, mouth wide and laughing as she threw her head back in enjoyment and happiness, the sun making her blond hair gleam on that fabulous day that really had been their last not only in London but in England!

With this happier image in his mind and smiling slightly, Peter pulled back the entrance to the tent and took a step in.

It was a few seconds before his eyes adjusted to the darkness as he looked blankly around; fighting for air against the humidity and what he guessed was incense. However, he didn't have long to adjust as the moaning stopped and turned into a full-throated, agonised scream. It was so sudden and so loud that he nearly jumped out of his skin and yelped in shock! As he had just come back from battle he nearly pulled out his sword in preparation for an attack, but his eyes, which had been roving around to find the source of the scream, fell on a low table or, more accurately; what was on the low table...

A small skeletal-like figure was writhing around, obviously in tremendous pain, clutching their head and screaming their heart out. The sight and sound nearly tore his heart but he was relieved; he had clearly gone into the wrong tent! This wasn't Sally! Sally wasn't a skeleton; she always said she preferred the extra weight to keep her warm in the winter. He sighed with relief and shook his head at the mistake that had been made; Ed must have brought the wrong prisoner-

"No, no, nono Peter!! No!" the figure yelled out in anguish, one hand reaching out in front of them, as though to grasp something.

Peter froze. His breath stuck in his throat. His heart stopped beating. All the blood drained from his body. No. No it couldn't....wasn't possible!

He turned slowly, injuries forgotten, completely numb. As though he was wading through syrup he made his way unfeelingly towards the low table. There were many medics rushing around it trying to hold the person down while they had begun to thrash, yelling incomprehensibly. One saw him and tried to pull him out of the tent. Peter was vaguely aware of them saying something to him but he pushed them away. He distantly heard a clatter but didn't look back to see what he had done. He kept walking in a daze nearer and nearer to the table. And then he reached it.

Horrified he looked down. What he saw nearly caused him to break down right there. It was Sally. But she was ...horrific?...deathly?...wasted?...withered?...sunken?...None of the words seemed to do grisly justice to the mess that lay before him. Her once beautiful round face was haggard and horribly worn. Her cheek bones were prominent and stood out so sharply that he was afraid that if he reached out to touch her face that he would cut his finger on them. Her eyes were shut tight and tears were streaming from them flowing in rivers over the black bags that defined her previously line-free face. Now from her closed eyes radiated many wire thin lines that told a story of pain, hunger, distress and huge grief. Not one laughter line. Peter's eyes roved over her body; he could see so many bones pocking at her skin. They made her all angles with none of the round soft flesh that used to be there. Her head was lashing from side to side as she sought for something in her darkness. The hair that came from her head was flailing around in lank, unhealthy strips.

This gruesome version of his best friend had Peter's stomach heaving and unbeknownst to him there were floods of tears running down his face. He felt claustrophobic and panicky. His stomach was sick. He couldn't bear anymore! He had to get out! So, turning he began to stumble towards the door, but then Sally's horrendous screams stopped and she whimpered his name as though he was walking out on her, though she couldn't have known what was going on outside of her mind. His heart broke and he swore he could feel it physically. He whirled back around and almost fell over in his haste to comfort her.

He fell down beside the table and clutched one of her hands. Crying out loud now he swore that he would never leave her again. But she started writhing again and pulled her hand away from him, her face was scrunched up in fear and she started to cry.

"Sally! Sally no! Look at me come back!" Peter took her face in his hands to force her to look at him. But her eyes were closed, darting under her lids as though searching for something. Once again his heart sank- even further than he would have thought possible- as he realised that she could neither see nor hear him. As filled with desperation as he was he dully became aware of someone pulling on his arm. Furious that someone could be wasting time pulling at him instead of fixing Sally he whirled around ready to yell at them but instead he only saw Edmund standing behind him looking worried and pale.

"Peter you should come with us and let the medics work on her. They need to be free to do their work and you're not letting them." He said it softly as he looked into Peter's grief torn eyes. But even still it made Peter bristle.

"What? Do you think for one moment that I would stop them from helping Sally?!" He was once again furious, only this time it was directed towards his younger brother.

"No! No Peter it's not that at all it's only that they need to move around and you insisting on being so close to her means that they're moving around you and it's not a huge tent. They need you to give them some space." Again this was said in a pacifying voice but Peter still took offence.

"So not only am I trying to stop them from helping my best friend but I am also in the way and no one wants me here; excellent! Well guess what Ed? I'm here to stay. I'm not leaving this tent until-" he turned in the direction of the medics-"you fix her!" He was getting hysterical.

"Peter-"

"No! No this is my fault I'm going to stay here until it's been fixed!" his bright blue eyes were nervously darting around the tent as he began to fidget with his hands.

"What? What do you mean it's your fault? Peter, Sally ran off and she got caught, no one could have done anything to prevent it, it was just bad luck."

"No. It wasn't." Peter focused on his brother and Edmund was shocked at the range of emotions crossing his face; guilt, grief, disbelief, horror and sheer panic all in one moment.

"All right Peter why don't you come out and explain?" Edmund was now beginning to panic at the state of the older brother in front of him.

Thankfully Peter seemed to be overwhelmed with guilt and just nodded, tears in his eyes.

They were sitting in the royal tent around a plush table normally used for making strategies, holding conferences and to carry out the other duties of leaders of war. Now however the four Kings and Queens, along-side the new Prince of Narnia sat around it in a stunned and shamed silence. Bathed in a deep orange glow as a result of the gold and red material of the tent under the hot sun, the atmosphere was tense and the anger was palpable.

"So-" Prince Caspian was one of the first to recover from Peter's shocking news as he had not been so closely involved in the situation. "So you are saying that on the night that Sally was taken you and she went up to the top of the How and ate? Then she tried to kiss you and you scorned her so that she was so shamed she ran into the woods where you left her to be captured?! " He looked in disbelief at this High King who had fallen so badly, the High King whom he had secretly admired, despite all of his interference in Narnian affairs. Now he was just a shell of that man, broken and shamed, full of guilt and despair.

"No!" Peter looked up through red rimmed eyes and said desperately; "No, it wasn't like that I didn't just leave her to be captured! She ran off and I was angry I didn't think-"

"No Peter. You didn't think. You were the one who was telling all of us to never go out alone because it was so dangerous and because we could accidentally give our position away to the Telmarines . You were so adamant about this and yet you let her go out there alone and even worse you let her go and told no one!" It was Susan and she was upset. "You're right! It is your fault! She wouldn't be like this if you had just been a decent person and talked to her instead of treating her like a...a silly child! You treated her horribly and it is entirely your fault!!" And with that Susan was running out of the tent in tears, with Edmund close behind her. Edmund sent one last glare towards Peter to let him know that he agreed with Susan and then he too was gone. Only Lucy and Caspian were left, but Lucy looked sadly at Peter and shook her head slightly, then even she left.

Peter let his head drop into his hands and gave a huge sigh. It was a sound that seemed to reverberate through the almost empty space. Unable to keep it to himself anymore Peter kneaded his eyes with the heel of his palms and spoke.

"They hate me."

Caspian turned around and looked at the man-boy before him. Peter had been through this all before; he'd done the growing and the becoming King, been through the awkward learning how to rule and trying not to make huge mistakes and if history was right, well then he had done a very good job! But now he sat before him in a large chair and seemed swamped by his own clothes with the weight of his guilt laying heavily on him and Caspian felt pity seep through his body for Peter. He let out a releasing breath as he pulled out a chair and sat down.

"They don't hate you Peter." Even to his own ears his voice sounded resigned and not at all convincing, but then why should it be? They probably did hate him and rightly so!

"Yes. They do." Peter didn't even deign to look up from his scrutiny of the grains in the wooden table as he spoke.

"No!" Caspian turned to face Peter head on. "They don't hate you, I just don't think they understand why you didn't tell them before now, or why you did what you did, after all you were very harsh to her."

Peter sighed again and turned to face Caspian, his eyes were red rimmed and hollow, almost as though he himself was devoid of hope, his usually neat blond hair stood up at all angles from running frustrated fingers through it.

"They blame me for what happened, Caspian! And how can I tell them not to, because I blame myself! Whatever else I may not be I try not to be a hypocrite!" he said forcefully, but then wailed; "How could I have let this happen?"

"It was a mistake, a very, very bad mistake! But it was one nonetheless and soon they will come around to, well if not forgiving you, then at least accepting it. It will be all right." With those last few words of wisdom Caspian clapped a hand to Peter's back in a consolidatory gesture then lifted the entrance flap and left the tent with Peter alone to wallow and to hopefully come up with a way to improve the situation...

Edmund heaved a huge sigh of exhaustion.

"Well that one certainly came all the way from your boots!" Susan exclaimed in surprise.

It was late at night and although they were both tired they were sitting in Aslan's How at Sally's bedside.

They had only stayed in their camp for a day after Peter and Sally had been returned. They had slowly made their way back to the How and to relative safety. The journey back had been an uncomfortable one as they had spent the majority of it on errands that would take them as far away from Peter as possible. They were finding it hard to not only stop blaming him but to even be in the same area as him.

A full week had now passed in the How and Lucy was the only one who would even attempt to speak to him. Edmund and Susan both felt that Peter had been stupid and reckless and Sally had had to pay for it. In their minds it was as though he had sent their surrogate sister out to the wolves without a care.

Once they had returned Peter had seemed to understand that his siblings no longer wanted him and had taken to sticking to his quarters for the better part of the day, some even said that he had turned completely nocturnal to escape the blame and the glares the others would bestow on him. This was partially true, but he also found it hard to sleep at night when everything was so quiet and he couldn't escape the guilt and sorrow, at least during the day there were noises to lull him off into fitful and often dreamless sleeps.

He did however know of everything that went on, for instance he knew that Sally had been very quiet for days now, she hadn't let out one scream or one moan, not even a tear had leaked through her clamped eyelids. She had been unnaturally quiet and it worried Peter even more than her screaming had. The medics however seemed to think that this was a good thing-at least for their hearing- and weren't doing too much about it; this infuriated him.

Every night he would go to the little hospital and sit by her bedside and in his mind he would beg Aslan to come back and fix her, for he was sure only Aslan could do it. But he never came, and she never got any better –as far as he, or the nurses could tell- and eventually they would come in to find him there and kick him out into the small hours of the morning. The he would stock up on food and head to his rooms before the others could be up and so the whole cycle started again. Little did he know however, that it was this behaviour that annoyed and infuriated his siblings so. They would have accepted what he had done a lot sooner had he been around and actively looking after Sally and looking for a cure. To them he looked like a petulant child who had made a mistake and wouldn't accept it!

Hey all! I know this is probably getting annoying with all the doom and gloom, but it will be worth it! I hope you are enjoying it all the same!!

I'm going on holidays now for a few weeks so it will take me a while to update but if you have any ideas, complaints or just anything to say in general feel free!! :)

Drop us a review and tell me what you think!!

Thanks,

Tink! :)


	14. Chapter 14

Please please, don't hate me for the late update!!! I'm really sorry!!

I made this chapter extra long to make up for the lateness!!! I hope you enjoy it!

Unfortunately I own nothing... :(

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"Yes but if he would just own up and grow up enough to help us then it wouldn't be so bad, but this moping around feeling sorry for himself is just wrong Ed! He got her into this mess and he will not even lift a finger to help her! Oooh he has become simply infuriating!" Susan's tense, harsh whisper seemed to echo of the earthen walls of the corridor outside Sally's little hospital room.

Edmund was nodding along, agreeing with what his eldest sister said. They had been here for quite some time because- believe it or not- even they had been kicked out of their own hospital, as visiting times were over. For weeks Edmund had fumed over this because they were visiting a girl who was apparently asleep for the entire time and never woke up!

"Why do we need to be kicked out?!" he would grumble, "It's not like she needs the rest; she's asleep!" Susan would sigh patiently and say that it was probably more for their benefit than for Sally's and Edmund would just give an odd sort of grunt and walk away...probably to get food...

However it was always them and never Peter that would have his conversation, even Lucy would join in at times, sometimes for and sometimes against these visiting hours, knowing that without them Edmund would probably never leave, although neither would she!

At this precise moment though, Susan and Edmund were alone; they didn't like discussing their disappointment in Peter in front of Lucy.

"He just...I don't know...It's like he can't stand to be there for her any more...almost as though, once we returned from the castle, that he deflated and fell in on himself. I wish he would do more. I know that he could help in some way, but he isn't even trying." Edmund sighed shaking his head, feeling bemused and let down.

"I've been doing the best I can." Said a cold voice as someone came around the corner. Needless to say, it was Peter. He stood there in the gloom of the corridor and Susan sucked in a sudden lungful of air in shock and anger at his appearance. His head was now held high but in the dim light she could see that his eyes were underlined by deep black shadows. His once shinning golden hair was now lank and while clean, it had lost the shinning look of health it had once boasted. He was thinner than before and his face was gaunt, making his cheekbones stand out in high relief. Although his head was held up in a cold defiance his shoulders were slumped and an air of dejection clung to him. She hissed, furious; how dare he say he had been doing his best when he was never even there! How dare he look sleep deprived and ill when he had done nothing! He would know what she thought of his coping methods!

"Doing the best you can?!" her voice was low and dangerously calm. "You've been moping around your room while we've been down with Sally and her doctors trying to figure out a way to clean up _your _mess! We've been here every day! Ed and Lucy hardly ever leave! In case you had forgotten; if you hadn't been so cold and un-feeling and mean none of this would have happened! There's also the small matter of trying to defeat the Telamrines, or had you forgotten that too? Well let me fill you in. While you have been stuck up in your rooms gathering enough food and supplies to keep you up there for the next month, we have been helping Caspian to strategise and come up with ways to defeat them; countless scouts have been sent out and come back with little or no information and yet they get closer every day! We spent a whole week in abject terror because the wise women that we had sent for seemed to disappear along with their guards somewhere between the last enemy camp and our own camps! They were our last hope for finding cure for Sally and we thought we had lost it forever! Lucy is terrified, though she won't show it, that you're never going to come back to her again, that you're just going to stay up there and abandon us all! What do I tell her Peter?! Well? Should I tell her the truth? That you're a coward; that you embarrassed a girl, our adopted sister of sorts, so much so that she ran away from you and straight into the arms of our enemy who tortured her into this horrible coma-like nightmare! All because of you and now you hide from it all, all alone locked up in your room like a selfish little boy!" she spat it out in her anger and glared at him. Peter had paled in front of her onslaught and his jaw was tight, but his eyes were pained. He said nothing.

"Will you not even defend yourself?" Susan was defeated by this dead silence, and her voice was little above a tear filled whisper. "Have you nothing to say."

Peter looked away from her. Slowly and quietly a sad, broken voice escaped from his clenched mouth.

"Do you not think that I torture myself with those self- same accusations that you have just laid upon me?" He turned to face her once more and she was stunned to see the torture and anguish in his eyes. But he continued.

"Do you think that I lie up in my room happily eating chocolates and musing on how sad it must be down here? How Susan? How could you think that of me?" His eyes and voice were pleading and to his shame his eyes were filling with tears. Angrily he dashed them away. His voice got stronger; "I have been up there for weeks because I won't allow myself any nearer to her. Every time I go near her something bad happens! Do you not remember the day after we first met? I was with her and the sirens went off again, while running towards the shelters she was hit by shrapnel from an explosion, she would have died had we not been nearer! And then she got the news about her father while I was with her! Now this! I'm no good anywhere near her Susan; all I do is cause her pain. I was staying up and away from her for her own good!"

He looked back at his sister, shame and guilt oozing from his entire being. What he was afraid to tell her though: was that he _had _been visiting Sally...at least the odd day or week....; just not when any of his siblings could see him... He had been so full of guilt that it was his brother and sisters that he had been unable to face, he had found it much easier to go to see Sally alone and to try to help her form the sidelines, so to speak. He had also kept a close eye on all that had happened and knew that Susan, Edmund and Lucy had all individually sent away for various doctors to try help to find a cure. Although, come to think of it they had kept it quite silent about these new wise women!

Susan however knew none of what was going on inside his head and she looked at him, at first feeling pity for the once strong brother she had known and loved before all of this. Then once more she got angry.

"You're hiding Peter." She said coldly. "You're hiding behind stupid fabricated lies."

He looked at her, slightly startled that the bearing of his soul and his shame, which let's face it had been bared with the purpose of her forgiving him and thinking him brave and noble, could have produced such a cold reaction.

"You know very well that those other circumstances were outside your control and just bad coincidences. Yet you made up for those! You helped her recover from the injury and you were there when she needed the support her father couldn't give her. Why are you hiding from the one thing that actually was your fault? And the one thing that I'm sure you could be instrumental in fixing. You're a coward Peter Pevensie, a coward and a fool." With that she walked brusquely passed him with a withering glare and left the two brothers together.

Peter looked at Edmund for the first time. He looked tired and worried, but he was frowning.

"She has a point you know, I do think you're hiding, but I'm not sure from what, exactly." With a last calculating look at Peter, Edmund said nothing and left him alone.

Peter looked down the dark tunnelled hall, his addled brain confused. He wasn't hiding, was he? He was staying away from Sally to keep her safe! There was no way they would find the cure with him and his bad luck hanging around! Not that visiting the odd time could be considered 'hanging around'...could it? Or would he really be able to help? No he'd just make things worse surely!

But what if...? He had spent many slow torturous hours reflecting on how he had acted towards Sally when she kissed him. He hated to think of it. He had been so cruel and harsh and he wished it had never happened. Then they wouldn't be in this horrible situation and perhaps Sally would be all right; he should have let her kiss him. He felt cursed; many sleepless nights had been spent thinking and reflecting on all of this and then even on those blessed nights when h did fall asleep he was haunted by the image of her turning in the tent, writhing and screaming in terror and agony. But in his dreams, she was calling out his name. She was calling out his name in fear; he was the one in her mind turning her against everyone and torturing her.

Once again, he was the reason. On those nights he wished that he wouldn't sleep, but the number of real sleepless nights made him too tired to stay awake and eventually he would sleep whether he wanted to or not. And so his days had passed in a cyclone of pain, exhaustion and anguish. But he was sick of it; he had always hated moping around doing nothing. He just felt like couldn't help himself right now.

"Wait a moment!" He was startled out of his reverie by a sudden thought; "What was that Susan had said about the wise women? ... Something about them being the last hope to finding a cure?" Hope and a dreadful conviction began to flood his body; "See, she was fine without him!" then his bubble deflated slightly; "But what exactly was going on? And what did she mean by _last _hope?"

Peter paused for a moment to think; when was the last time he had heard some real, recent news? Not just about doctors being sent for and all failing in the end. He was shocked to find out it had been just after they had arrived back from searching for Sally! But how long ago was that?!

Peter started to get angry with himself; "What on Earth have you been doing?!" He asked himself questions that he had been afraid to ask before, and this time he gave them an honest answer; he _had _been hiding from the fact that he had behaved abominably towards his best friend. And after he had spent weeks tirelessly searching for her and when Edmund had finally found her, she had been completely destroyed. It had destroyed him in turn because Susan was right; it _was _his fault!

But now, a new conviction and adrenaline surged through his fatigued body; he would hide no more! He would get back up and again be the Peter everyone knew; Peter the Magnificent, High King of Narnia!

But first he had to go see his favourite girl! If, of course she would allow him...

He knocked nervously on the large, solid wood door and waited nervously.

"Who is it?" a tired, weary voice came from within.

"It's me." He said.

Silence. The door creaked open. A small face and large brown eyes gazed up at him from the other side.

"Peter?"

"Hello Lucy."

"Peter!" Lucy ran out with an enormous smile on her face and lunged at him, flinging her arms around his neck.

"Peter I thought you were never going to come out of your room! You were up there for so long and I never saw you even in the hospital! But I knew you were just sad over Sally and that you were going to see her when you could be alone, because she's your best friend! Oh I knew you'd come back down!"

Peter hugged his youngest sister tightly as he felt guilt assuage his innards. Once he felt her hold loosening he released her and bending down to look at her in the eye said; "Lucy I have behaved appallingly, can you forgive me?"

Lucy smiled, gave him a peck on the cheek and a squeezy hug.

Peter laughed for what felt like the first time in years and playfully pretended to choke.

"All right, all right; enough!" Once released from the squeezy hug Peter began to ask Lucy some questions.

"Ok Lu, so what can you tell me about these wise women that Susan sent for?"

Lucy frowned and tried to think; "Well, they're from the mountains to the south, I think we had an allegiance with them last time, but I can't remember about what. Susan wanted them because they're quite clever and do you remember they had that medicine of their own that was really like the flower cordial Father Christmas gave me? Only theirs was made from herbs and things so that they'd never run out! Well, they came a couple of days ago but we were really worried because they stopped sending letters to us about where they were with their centaurs just before they arrived and we thought they had been killed!" Lucy's eyes were round and full of the memory of the fear that they would never see the wise women and then never see Sally right again. "But then Reepicheep found them near the lamppost hiding in the forest and he brought them home!" she smiled at the happy ending to her little story.

Peter took all of this aboard, but it hadn't told him what he really wanted to know; "What did they say? About Sally?" his tone was urgent and the smile faded from Lucy's face.

"Well, they were in with her for a whole week! There were strange smells and sounds and funny coloured smoke coming from the entire hospital wing! It was a bit scary! They came out then afterwards and told Susan and Ed that Sally was in some giant nightmare. They tried everything they could think of but none of their remedies were working. They said we might never get her back." Lucy's lower lip trembled as she tried to keep back the tears that were filling her eyes, eyes that had seen too much already, and too much of that was Peters own fault. Again.

Overcome with guilt, he pulled his little sister into his arms and hugged her tightly, whispering fiercely that it would be ok, and that they would find a way to bring her back. Lucy just cried as children do when they are too overcome with too many different emotions and Peter held her and rocked her until she fell asleep. Then he picked her up and carried her to her bed. When he tried to lie her down she just gripped more tightly to his clothes and refused to let go.

"Don't leave!" she whispered.

"I won't." He promised and got into the bed beside her.

Hours later when he was sure she was fast asleep he slipped out of the bed and out of the room. He made his way straight to the hospital wing feeling rejuvenated but highly ashamed of himself for how he had been acting. But now he was determined to put right his wrongs and fix it all! ...perhaps easier said than done...

On reaching the hospital wing he saw that there were now guards stationed outside the doors and when he tried to go in they refused and wouldn't let him in! Not even when he told them exactly who he was! No he was just told to sit still and be quiet and to wait until the women were finished. He was most infuriated!

However he did not have long to wait until Edmund came down; when Peter saw to whom the echoing footsteps belonged, a sense of dread filled him. How was he going to explain himself to his brother, normally neither were great ones for talking; especially about _feelings_!

He needn't have been worried though, for Edmund just smiled slightly, nodded and sat down beside him against the rough stone wall; no awkwardness and no blame! Peter sighed, a sigh of relief and gratitude for his brother, who always remembered never to judge others by their mistakes, after all; he himself had made rather large ones in the very beginning of their relationship with Narnia!

They sat in silence for what felt like hours until _finally _the doors to the hospital wing opened and out stepped what Peter could only assume was the wise mountain woman. But she looked like no wise mountain woman he had ever seen or heard of! Wise woman was usually a nice way of saying "crazy yet unusually smart woman", with emphasis on the crazy because they would always be short, fat, old crones with large humpbacks, wearing furs or something equally horrible and have terribly matted hair. This woman was not like that at all. This woman had a fabulous body, it was the first thing Peter noticed because she was wearing a long piece of cloth that draped around her body, artfully accentuating every curve and skimming gracefully over her. Her hair was rolled up and pinned in a strange bun: it was an odd purplish colour but seemed to shimmer with violet and lavender lights. Her eyes were a deep blue that accentuated her hair, her lips were a deep red and her face was delicate and classically beautiful. It held such an expression of knowledge that there was not a question of her being crazy. Peter was bowled over...completely!

A satisfied chuckling brought him back to his senses and he turned to see Edmund laughing at him. Edmund had already met the wise women and was used to their effects on men, but being the only male had never seen the effects on anyone else and was highly amused by the dumbfounded look on his elder brother's face! It was also why he hadn't warned him of their effects!

Colouring, Peter cleared his throat and turned away.

Still smiling Edmund turned to her and said; "How is it going Dr. Galeria?"

She turned to look sagely at him and replied in a calm musical voice; "We may have found something."

The two brothers instantly perked up and gave her their full, undivided attention.

"It seems that the girl responds to happy stimuli, for example; a feather in ticklish places, a simulation of sunshine. Through this we have been able to surmise that these stimuli bring out happy memories in her disturbed nightmares and that they have the opposite effect; they reduce the nightmares and a few times we have even been able almost to bring her to the surface, although fleetingly."

"What does this all mean?" Edmund demanded, not quite understanding what the strange vision of perfection was saying.

"We think that good memories reduce the power and hold the nightmare has on her. It is as though the happy memory is a nightmare for this enchantment that makes it shrink away from the girls conscious."

"Bu what does it mean? What are you saying?" asked Peter cautiously, wanting to be explicitly clear on this subject, refusing to get his hopes up for nothing.

The woman turned her beautiful face towards him.

"We believe that if you have a strong enough stimulus for a strong enough memory then it may be possible to bring her back. At least for a while"

A stunned silence followed her statement.

A memory.

That was it? A memory!? All this searching and hunting, paying for more and more doctors, with varying talents in such a wide areas and all they needed was a bloody _memory_!?!??!

Edmund was unable to deal with this and flopped down onto a chair with a frustrated sigh and ran his hand through his brown hair.

Peter stayed where he was. A memory. Wow. But he was still rather confused.

"Excuse me ...eh...doctor, but how could it be that simple?! After all the expense that my family has gone to find all these doctors...how could they _all _have missed out on that?? It's so simple!"

The woman smiled knowingly and shook her odd head. "These so called doctors were looking for poisons and pollutants, toxins and venoms. The answer is simply that whatever was given to your friend was untraceable if you were looking for such normal things. In all likely-hood, we believe that one would need to know of the Telmairne's own wise men and women to search for this particular pest. It is a little known technique that the Telmarines have evidently perfected. It is brewed from the compilation of several poisonous herbs. The poison of each herb battles with and eventually counteracts the other, transforming the potion into a type of sleeping draught that puts the victim to sleep. It brings to the forefront of their minds their worst fears and makes them live it in a sort of constant living nightmare. I have to say I have never seen such a perfectly brewed specimen in all my long years. We were almost about to give up when one of our elders ran her hands over a ticklish spot on her body, then we noticed a slight easing in her brow and we were able to work from that."

Peter narrowed his eyes at her. Was that admiration he heard in her voice? But he soon dismissed it. This was excellent news! There _was _a cure! Sally would be saved! It was all going to be ok again!

Edmund interrupted his happy imaginings with slightly more practical questions.

"This is all very well and good, but how exactly do we get her to remember?"

Peter's stomach dropped slightly at the most obvious complication that he hadn't even thought of...

The woman looked thoughtful for a moment as she considered the question. Having come to answer she soon replied; "I think it would have to be something physical. It was when she made contact with a solid object that we got the best results."

"A solid object that contains a powerful memory", why did that phrase sound somehow familiar to him? Peter had a niggling feeling in the back of his head but couldn't grasp fully where it came from or what it was. Deciding that it mustn't be anything important, he dismissed it and tried to concentrate on the conversation.

"...so there's nothing you can do to keep her more comfortable until we find a definitive cure?" Edmund was asking.

She shook her head, "I am afraid that the effect lessens the more you use the same object. What is needed is something extremely powerful. So powerful that it will blast this curse in one go."

"But," said Peter, "How will we know what is powerful enough?"

"We won't." She replied simply; and rather unsatisfactorily in Peter and Edmund's opinion!

"But then how is this to work?!" demanded Edmund angrily, losing his patience when they were so close and yet still so far!

"That, King Edmund must be up to you. Normally in cases such as these we would use a Forget-me-not cordial, something like what your sister Queen Lucy has, but that would not be strong enough here; she has been under its control for too long. You must find something else."

Just then the door was opened by another stunning woman, but this one had red hair the colour of a glorious sunset and it matched the hidden fire within her perfectly.

This time, it was Edmund who was bowled over! He had never met her before and was unprepared for her. His jaw fell slack and he stood gaping at the woman. She was tall and elegant, but in a fierce way, like that of a powerful warrior. Her body was long and taut, like a rope, but she still managed to look very feminine. Edmund stood as though slapped, drinking in her fiery radiance from her hair to her jade green eyes. Her creamy, almost beige skin glowed with health and vigour and the deep midnight gown she wore accentuated everything about her while simultaneously making her look magical and dangerous.

Peter, who had been far too involved in the conversation with Dr. Galeria to be effected by the new arrival, caught a glimpse of his awestruck brother and grinned triumphantly and evilly to himself before turning to the two women, trying to hide his grin and said;

"Hello, I'm King Peter, have you anymore news for us?"

The new woman turned towards him and had he not been High King he would have quailed beneath her fearsome gaze. Her eyes raked over him in an obvious scrutiny, but betrayed no hint as to the result of her study.

"No." She said at last, "We have no more news for _you._ For Galeria, however, we have news." Then she turned away to dismiss him.

Peter felt her slight and was quite taken aback and angered by it.

"Excuse me! I am the High King! What you have to tell Dr. Galeria you may tell me also!"

She looked at him once more but this time with a very different expression on her face and Peter found it hard to read; pity, perhaps, or was that mockery? In fact what the woman felt towards the High King was anger and condescension. How dare he address her like that? He was NOT _her_ leader! She was a powerful warrior and she could crush him with one hand! Her anger was flaring at his impertinence when she felt a strong hand on her tightened arm. Startled, she turned to glare at whoever it was that had dared to touch her and was met with a pair of fabulously dark, deep brown eyes.

Edmund had noticed that Peter's big mouth and even bigger ego had gone and gotten him into trouble again!

Seeing the insult he had caused, he came up to make it clear to this strange woman that he had simply let his grief and worry for Sally run away with him. He walked slowly up to her had put his hand on her arm, noticing as he did that she was the same height as himself and for some reason felt oddly impressed by this alone! Once his hand touched her arm he could feel the power and will pulsing in her tightened muscles. He knew then that this was a woman to never get on the wrong side of!

As she turned to face him, he found himself caught in her enrapturing gaze and it was all he could do to choke out a garbled excuse; "Please...forgive my brother...he does not know... when to stop and pay proper respects to...such a warrior..."

Her eyes probed his own until she was satisfied that he was being truthful and then she relaxed and inclined her head towards Edmund. He seemed to glow with pleasure and she tried to hide a smile at his reaction.

Peter looked on in surprise; he couldn't believe his younger brother had totally diffused the situation and distracted her so. For some reason he felt oddly proud of him!

Galeria, meanwhile just rolled her eyes discretely for she was well used to the effect that her race and this young woman in particular had on young men! Coughing delicately she drew the flushed attention of Edmund and the defiant glance of her young protégé. Peter looked amused as he again looked to her.

"I think my dear that it may be time for us to get back to what it was you came out to tell me." She said pointedly, raising a graceful eyebrow.

"It must be told to you inside the room as you must see it for yourself." She answered; her voice slightly less defiant than her appearance.

Nodding, Galeria turned to the two brothers; "I will let you know of any developments." She said before turning back to re-enter the little hospital. The other young woman however, seemed to hesitate for a moment as she sent a veiled glance towards Edmund and on perceiving his gaze still on her she lifted her head and quickly turned to follow her superior, leaving a dumbstruck Edmund in her wake.

Peter turned to his brother as soon as they left. He grinned at Edmund and then began to walk away. Soon he heard the hurried footsteps of his brother behind him. How Peter longed to tease him, but knowing how he had behaved recently knew that he really shouldn't, he would save it for later and build up his arsenal!

"Wow," Said Edmund eventually, "a possible cure found at last! We must tell the girls at once!"

So what do you think?? I hope it doesn't look like I just skimmed over the weeks following their arrival at the How with Sally because I was bored or something...I just didn't want to dwell for too long on the depressing stuff anymore. So anyhu, tell me what you think! :)


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